SWEDEN / FILE: Sweden speaks highly of cinema great Bergman
- 00:00:10
- ITN Source
SWEDEN / FILE: Sweden speaks highly of cinema great Bergman
Legendary Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, who influenced a generation of film-makers with his often stark works about mortality and sexual torment, died on Monday (July 30) aged 89. The self-taught director and scriptwriter died at his home on Faro Island in the Baltic Sea. Sweden on Monday lamented the death of an icon. "He put Sweden on the map" said Dan Petersson. Bergman's work encompassed 54 films, 126 theatre productions and 39 radio plays. In the Swedish capital Stockholm everyone has their own favourite. From Fanny and Alexander to Smiles of a Summer Night and The Virgin Spring. Stellan Ericsson said there was no doubt Bergman was one of the great Swedes of all time. "I could compare him to our king among others. And Bjorn Borg perhaps" he said. Bergman's cinematic masterpieces often dwelt on sexual confusion, loneliness and the vain search for the meaning of life -- themes that many ascribed to a traumatic childhood in which he was beaten by his father. Offstage, Bergman's private life often thrust him into the limelight. He was married five times to beautiful and gifted women and had liaisons with his leading actresses. He gained international recognition with the 1956 film "The Seventh Seal", set in the Middle Ages, in which a crusader, searching for God and the meaning of life, plays chess with death. It won the jury prize at the 1957 Cannes film festival. He won Academy Awards for best foreign language film in 1960, 1961 and 1983, and a collection of his work was last month added to the UNESCO store of history's greatest archives. The director's self-proclaimed retirement from big screen productions followed the making of "Fanny and Alexander". Produced in three- and five-hour versions, the film won four Oscars in 1983, including best foreign film. He subsequently directed a number of television productions, including the celebrated "Saraband" in 2003. In 1985, Bergman received the French Legion of Honour from then President Francois Mitterand. Bergman settled on Faro -- or "sheep" -- island off the southeast coast of Sweden after shooting seven movies there. Each summer the island hosts a celebration of his life and movies.
ITN Source | July 31, 2007
