I have already seen several interviews, both short and long in length, with the legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, but rarely has he ever been this revelatory in what he says to his interviewer/director of the film Marie Nyerod. In fact, I would go as far as saying that there are very few, if any, filmmakers or artists who say so much from an emotional core, from a place where feelings and experience touch one very greatly and profoundly and hurtingly at times, while still being able to be articulate and with a truly intellectual core. In other words, it's like watching one of his films, sort of. And interesting too is seeing how he lives on this island, from the (American-released) title 'Bergman Island', and how it suits him very well in his golden years. He first came to the island while filming Through a Glass Darkly, and decided to live there after filming Persona, as the island somehow spoke to him intensely and movingly with its tranquility and peace and, particularly, seclusion.
But even when Nyerod finds Bergman at his home, widowed 8 years from his fifth and final wife Ingrid, he says that he does not even feel lonely, and for one who is as disorganized as him, rituals in the day are crucial for him. So he goes in this documentary on wonderful ruminations on his childhood, which held as many joys as terrors and very harsh circumstances of what 'love' meant with pain (this later went brilliantly and crushingly into Fanny & Alexander), on his early successes and the turning point that came in the mid 50s, on his passions for the theater and film and how they vary (as well as passions for the women of his life, and how he transitioned from wives to his female stars), and finally on the great fear of death and questioning of religion. Listening to him, as a fan, is like hearing someone who knows all there is to know in the world, but also through massive experience and what comes with working as a serious dramatist and storyteller and poet all of his life, there comes some pain and hurt and the knowledge that there can be cruelty that comes.
Most fascinating of all, aside from hearing the little tid-bits of stories from his films- especially Scenes From a Marriage and episode 3 of that work, and Cries and Whispers and his way of lies with the press- is hearing him talk of what a 'bad conscience' means, and how death impacted him, particularly after the passing of his wife. Never does he close himself off from the interviewer, and one always gets the total sense of Bergman, even as he is sometimes not totally sure of himself completely, just like everyone out there. Leaving the movie, much as I might with a directed-Bergman film, my mind became intellectually sparked, and I too thought of such prescient matters like of the afterlife and of what it means to be creative or what demons many of us carry and may not even acknowledge (i.e. "the demon of nothingness"). In short, if you love Bergman, this sort of final coda in what will very likely be the last we'll see of Bergman on screen, is priceless. And if you're just getting into his work too it's worth a viewing. I especially would like to see the unedited version of this documentary, though printed on this site at 174 minutes was released here in the US at a meager (yet very meaningful and pleasant) 85 minutes.
