Ingmar Bergman interview on The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries & more

Melvyn Bragg interviews Ingmar Bergman (1978)

[@kai-mingchow847]

Bergman: you know, er, cinema, Me: yes

[@bobbysands6923]

I never saw an interview with him until this (shame on me). He is nothing like I would have imagined. He is great guy, down to earth, and not full of himself like so many filmmakers, great or awful. I know it's late, but thanks for the post.

[@adevilcamehere8692]

unfortunately also a nazi sympathiser for many years

[@sdfghgtrew]

​@@adevilcamehere8692Cool

[@ElazarYershovFilms]

Bergman was a genius

[@hailegabriel1]

Just discovered Mr. Bergman a few weeks ago in film history class. Wild Strawberries is one of my favorite movies now.

[@grevevondy8530]

Geez how can anyone whom studies film not know about Ingmar Bergman?

[@blackmore4]

@Sharon Metro Winter Light for me... no! The Silence... no! Fanny and Alexander... no! Persona... etc etc etc...

[@icecreamforcrowhurst]

hailegabriel1 good grief, wait until you see The Seventh Seal! It’s probably the greatest film ever made, and that’s not hyperbole btw

[@tpampouk]

Ah Wild Strawberries. Masterpiece. My favourite Bergman film and in my top 5 favourite films ever

[@dielawn2723]

@@grevevondy8530 lol well clearly he literally just said that he just had been enlightened about the man....while studying film...... 🤦‍♂️ a little slow there, are ya? You ppl drive me mad. Quit trying to be the expert know it all on KZbin. If you’re the type that finds joy out of belittling others, well then the jokes on you cus clearly your life is miserable. Did you come out of the womb knowing everything? No, so shut up with your pointless criticism smh

[@jontydenton1898]

End of Wild Strawberries is certainly miraculous...the Mona Lisa smile moment of all cinema...enigmatic...intangible... magic!

[@markydark8286]

The seventh seal is a masterpiece!

[@petras8385]

Nice to see him in such a good mood!

[@TedTrembinski]

8:41 "Reality always makes sabotage to your fantasy to your dreams, so you have to take details of that reality and put them into your universe, but those details must be absolutely perfect to fit into this little universe and this universe is, of course, is very limited, but if it it's the right construction of it, it will be a perfect mirror of the reality around it." Sounds like David Lynch 101!

[@TheMattmatic]

Persona feels like a massive influence on Lynch, along with Vertigo and of course many other great films...

[@yusefendure]

His movies are so passionate, vivacious, dynamic! I just re-watched The Seventh Seal, and I must say that it is one of the greatest films that I have ever seen. Ingmar Bergman was a genius!

[@eunice7589]

what an amazing mind and a captivating character

[@TheMoviecritic2010]

That ending was amazing lol

[@brendan7048]

HA!

[@harrycluff4425]

3:02

[@harrycluff4425]

sorry, 3:04

[@GoldwaterB]

So unpretentious. What a delight.

[@andreware6492]

Bergman was my fathers friend, I remember going to his house in Gotland as a kid

[@stavis7861]

What was he like?

[@yakupgungor8650]

lie

[@albinwagsater]

He lived outside Gotland on fårö island but sure

[@squirtreynoldscinema]

@@albinwagsater Fårö is still a part of Gotland, chump.

[@jamesbenard24]

Wow, face to face with greatness.

[@lonestar6709]

That bro-hug at the end was just glorious. A filmmaker who matters. Bergman will matter centuries from now.

[@jaredgariti1146]

This was the greatest interview of all time.

[@akjfojsdghilfsd]

His comments about the chair at 6:10 closely echoes a scene in Fanny and Alexander, where Allan Edwall's character present a common nursery chair to the children as an ancient Chinese artifact (the scene after Christmas dinner, with the magic lantern). Likewise, at 9:00 he talks about the "little universe" of the stage/cinema as a mirror of reality which also echoes the speech that Allan Edwall's character gives to the theatre company at their Christmas party. Interesting how both these made it into the film later, both presented through Allan Edwall's character and with a great deal of emotional weight.

[@ResistanceQuest]

Such an amazing human being

[@Michael-cv5wk]

He seems so fun, joyful, and polite! All I had to go off with him was the tone of his films, I guess I imagined him being more serious and impatient like a lot of other well known directors.

[@nithyakalyanipub288]

Every moment he created lives forever , as fresh as the moment of its birth.....so beautiful...big hug!!

[@filmsagainstempires1388]

Cries and Whispers, The Virgin Spring, and Fanny and Alexander are all incredible films. The monologue at the beginning of Persona is spellbounding.

[@OhGodThe]

I wish it could keep going! It seems he wanted to keep going too. So careful and sensitive, his articulate mind.

[@emmachambers3190]

My religion class had me watching many of his films (The Seventh Seal, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light...) and honestly I think he may be one of my favorite filmmakers now.

[@watermelon520b]

Emma Chambers i wish my religion class was that interesting. We just had a bunch of triggered zealots and light but not substantial readings 😭

[@squirtreynoldscinema]

We watched Life of Brian during religion, lol. In 4th grade we got to watch Fanny och Alexander before Christmas though.

[@WindRises100]

We watched 'bend it like beckham' and 'gattaca'. I think I've been cheated.

[@brelfpv1437]

@@squirtreynoldscinema I'm an outsider, so I don't know better, but why would the Church accept an opinion that has elements that are critical of boundaries?

[@TheDoctor1225]

@@brelfpv1437 Because just as all people are not identical, nor are all members of the Church, nor are all believers. Some Christians and churches can understand that not everyone is where others are in the faith/belief scale and aren't threatened by that. Many are not the foaming zealots the media and "intellectuals" like to portray. As a Christian, myself, "The Seventh Seal" does a superb job of illustrating the different types of people in the world and how they react to faith, to life, and to its end.

[@carloandresl]

Such a beautiful mind. Wish there were some interviews on Swedish so we could listen to more of what he had to say. Forever in my heart, my dearest Ingmar ❤️

[@jari2018]

is one added today

[@petersolomon5227]

Unexpected and moving - a complete revelation.

[@martha_m6933]

There is something about Ingmar Bergman that draws you in directly. It is incredible how quick you can relate to him. He is such a considerating person, full of empathy and reflections upon life. You could listen to him for ages. It is exactly the same with his films. As soon as they start, you´ll be taken to another universe. You could just sit and watch Bergman films your whole life. There will always be something that is directly connected to the situation you are in. His ability to be in the present moment is extraordinary. It is clear, that there are many many magic moments in his films. We can be very grateful to share all these precious experiences! ❤

[@louise_rose]

Yes, he had great presence (both in everyday life and when he was doing something that put him "in charge", like directing a film or a theatre play, giving an interview or the like. It comes through in his way of speaking and writing, even in print: he had a keen sense of the telling word, the effective, revealing description, of characterizing people - and he was. of course, a very good storyteller. The interview book "Bergman on Bergman" (in Swedish 1970, translated into English in 1973) is permeated with this: interviewed by three interested Swedish film critics who were of course well prepared for their effort, he opens up, talks very openly about his development as a filmmaker, his early and later films, his relationship with the actors and with film production - fun, very direct, disarmingly honest, generous with praise for his actors and completely willing to accept the responsibility when he feels a film didn't live up to what he had meant it to be. "-The film premiered on a friday and nobody was expecting it to be the biggest critical bomb they had seen at the movies. It was funny, and my second fiasco that week. - What was the first one? - "Three Knives from Wei", Harry Martinson's Chinese play, which we had finally got to a premiere at the Royal Dramatic Theatre and then saw it butchered by the critics. (---) We were hellbent that we were gonna make a perfect colour movie and dammit we did, but that's all there is to say about it. Unfortunately that film *is* a failure: there are no two words about it. Curtains." (IB on "All Those Women", his uninspired final outing in the regular comedy genre on film, from 1964). Colour films were a very new thing over here at the time, there had been very few attempts, and Bergman didn't go for another one until "The Passion of Anna" at the end of the 1960s.

[@65g4]

Such an amazing director

[@victoriazeman_]

Endless love to this man ♥️ thank you for a wonderful interview

[@zaroffhound]

He seemed to embrace cinema to a similar extent that Blake lived out his visions, infusing every thing he came in contact with.

[@louise_rose]

The trick with the chair, described at 6:15, was pulled into the screenplay of "Fanny and Alexander" (1982, but the script was written in 1979). Late on Christmas night, the father and rather unsuccessful actor Oscar tells his children and brother's children about the wonderful, magic chair that has come down from ancient Eqypt and after thousands of years of adventures has landed in the kids' chamber of the Ekdahl family - and then he proceeds to poke fun at his own trick. The kids are equally delighted with both parts of the performance.... :)

[@ffraysse3065]

Funny how he took that story about the chair and put it in Fanny and Alexander

[@paulzenev4346]

Jim Morrison said that - the interview is the greatest art form!!

[@jojojo3521]

Silly idea.

[@withmercyaforethought7242]

Sounds like this s/b rewarded. Deepest Gratitude Ingmar! :)

[@tulliettoaffernik6999]

A genius.

[@NostalgiNorden]

Bergman later used that Chair metaphor in Fanny & Alexander.

[@phillytheflyerable]

sure did

[@mycuteb]

Wow what a great Interview... That should be every filmmakers Ambition to treat every movie as If their was the Last movie they make. Nothing in comparsion to the Avengers movie we're you make a movie having in mind 10 Other movies.

[@Calidore1]

Marvellous interview. Genius.

[@nirmalyamukhopadhyay1769]

Perhaps getting him to talk was a very big deal, but the interview is, sadly, very short and resultantly sketchy. Sad about that but thanks for showing a glimpse of the great man's thought process.

[@ToThoseWhoVanished]

Looks so happy and makes saddest films

[@notsureiL]

We never know what goes on inside a persons mind. Look happy, struggle inside.

[@ToThoseWhoVanished]

@@notsureiL Bergman probably was beyond the standards of sad/happiness. It barely mattered to him, his movies r like a dream or a nightmare.

[@eridivise]

He does not look happy, not sad too, but a guy who thinks a lot

[@satnamo]

If it is not for the last minute, Then nothing will be done.

[@notsureiL]

English wasn't taught back then in Swedish schools like it is now in modern day Sweden.. You know what you want to say, but doesn't find the exact phrasing. I think he did good Mr. Bergman.

[@lordnilsson1]

Ingmar Bergman celebrate 100 years..!? Well, then he was right. There is a life after death...

[@muitoculto]

100 years today.

[@satnamo]

Das world is a stage Because life is a show And we are das lead actors.

[@edmund184]

when filmmaking mattered

[@lnvenum]

It still matters.

[@blackmore4]

@rodrigo Haha. Spot on.

[@abdullaalsaleh]

rodrigo It matters to us, and it always will if we keep it alive.

[@themoreyouknowfools4974]

Still does

[@aliciadematteis7181]

when it is not business

[@apexxxx10]

*Elements in Ingmar’s films. Extreme close ups. Static camera, mostly. Carefully selected sound track. Music Bach, his Estonian wife was a concert pianist. Subject matter: religion, existential questions and Angst! Bangkok-Johnny CarSanook Media THAILAND*

[@gagandevj6206]

It has to be like Flu. Flu? Yeah Flu. You mean the Virus? Yes.Yes. Damn.

[@Jeannekm126]

🤣🤣

[@Tabish29]

Jesus

[@Kroulik-sz8lr]

Should I reveal it now ? Anatole France explained it in a book. I read it. It's old gnosticism. The Seventh Seal is the part of women's anatomy which looks like a phrygian bonnet or a Saint Madona medal. It's an other mouth which whispers words of wisdom. See ? ^^

[@johnbobjoe8322]

Nobody: Ingmar Bergman: HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@journeybymoonlight3216]

He has really nice skin.

[@diegoprincipe7567]

Any comments on the seventh seal? What’s your opinion about it?

[@tiagocouto5149]

There is no need to subtitle ''er...''' not only is understandable across all languages it just makes you constantly aware of such and it's pretty fucking annoying

[@flanplan5903]

His English is quite good, even though he tends to stammer quite a bit.

[@eastudio-K]

Each film will be the last

[@TrueSonOfOdin]

It is ironic ... and tragic ... that Max von Sydow died at the very start of the COVID pandemic. He could have recommended The Seventh Seal as inspiration to deal with what confronted us. We are all playing for time against Death.

[@jojojo3521]

Totalitarian governments who inflated and used a virus, that's what confronted us.

[@ulfutstrand]

.....including your nightmares...

[@MohaymenPK]

8:38

[@jerandecce2473]

HAH!

[@harshalkhaparde4731]

8:10

[@apexxxx10]

*17:26** Stiff-Upper-Lip “Melvin-Pelvin is visibly chocked by Ingmar Bergman’s spontaneous hug* Bergman is dead. Is Bragg still alive? Bangkok-Johnny, again*

[@SAMMOFIDEL]

He looks high

[@nedeljkomrkic408]

Cijenim Švedsku, ali što se tiče bergmana, nema ničega u tome, priznajemo si to, dosada, dosada, dosada i pesimizam, a to netrebam gledati, imam toga dosta i u vlastitom životu kao i većina ljudi, samo ću reći : VOLVO 89!!! To predstavlja Švedsku a ne siroti psihički bolesnik bergman

[@sdfghgtrew]

Did you see the films,,,? Lol

[@nedeljkomrkic408]

@@sdfghgtrew yes,like if l recorded stories from my life.... in short....NOTHING !!!