Ingmar Bergman 89th Birthday BBC Programmes

To mark the 89th birthday of Sweden’s greatest director, Ingmar Bergman, BBC 4 has broadcast this weekend two Arena documentaries. The first on Friday evening featured three people who had been given, we are told, the rare privilege of interviewing the great man himself. One of these was writer and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, who had interviewed Bergman thirty five years ago for his South Bank Show. Bragg has been a fan of Bergman since his undergraduate days when he saw his first foreign film which happened to be Bergman’s Summer With Monika. The film, and not to mention the very alluring eponymous star, had a profound effect on him. Whilst being interviewed, Bergman, observed Bragg, could not resist telling everyone on the set what to do.
The second documentary was one made by Swedish TV in 2004 when Bergman was interviewed on the isolated island that he now lives on.
Not much was mentioned in both documentaries about my own favourite Bergman film, Fanny and Alexander. More was made of Cries and Whispers and The Seventh Seal. Fanny and Alexander is available from The Criterion Collection in a very beautiful transfer and should be in every film lover’s collection.
Both programmes are worth watching if they are repeated. Better though is to watch the films themselves.