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He is one of the most important representatives of Scandinavian cinema: Who is Ingmar Bergman?

Ingmar Bergman is one of the most important names of creative European cinema. He dealt with the issues of religion, psychoanalysis, sexuality, the conflict between the intellectual and society with an intensity that reflects and often shakes the consciousness of the contemporary European intellectual.

Swedish film and theater director. Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born on July 14, 1918, in Uppsala, Sweden, the son of a Protestant priest. He was involved with the stage and cinema since childhood. This passion, which started with the player gifted to him at the age of twelve, continued with the student plays and amateur theater works he directed at the university. In 1944 he started working at the Hâlsingborg City Theatre. His reputation as a theater director was cemented when he moved to Gothenburg City Theatre. While working as a script editor for Svensk Filmdustri, which wanted to bring new talents to Swedish cinema, he attempted his first assistant directorship.

Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish filmmaker. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known as "profoundly personal meditations into the myriad struggles facing the psyche and the soul."

After assisting Alf Sjöberg in Hets ("Madness") in 1944, he directed his first film, Kris ("Crisis"), for which he also wrote the screenplay, in 1945. The director says he accepted this provincial melodrama "to make a movie at any cost". A year later he made the movie Det Regnar pâ vdr karlek (“It's Raining On Our Love”). An adaptation of a Norwegian stage play, the film was heavily influenced by film noir (gangster, detective and horror films). Ingmar Bergman wrote a movie script for Gustaf Molander, a famous and experienced director, in 1947: Kvinna shame ansikte (“The Woman Without a Face”). Taking advantage of this work, he made his next film. Skepp tul Indialand (“A Ship to India”) was also a play adaptation. Ingmar Bergman emphasized the father complex and the problem of authority, two themes that he would discuss later in the script. Also, for the first time in this film, he used the technique of overlapping and overlapping two separate narratives.

In 1947 he shot Musiki Mörker (“Music in the Dark”) and later Hamnstad (“The Port of Call”). Hamnstad contains sections shot with a documentary approach not seen in Ingmar Bergman's other films and bore traces of Italian Neo-Realism. Around this time, getting the actors accustomed to the subjects he created and adopting their roles began to draw attention as his successful aspect. 1949's Fangelse ("Prison") is a film mostly set indoors. Evil and the devil, one of the main themes of Ingmar Bergman, first appear here. The film, which deals with a prostitute and the reasons that drove her to suicide, reflected a pessimistic, nihilistic tendency.

Ingmar Bergman shot Törst (“Thirst”) the same year. This is one of the first typical Ingmar Bergman films to examine the psychological predicament and loneliness of its heroines. Till Gladje (“Joy”), which he translated in the same year, was a film in which Ingmar Bergman suddenly changed direction by focusing on countryside and nature views. This series, which the director calls "summer films", continued with Sommarlek ("Summer Game") in 1950. Ingmar Bergman stated that this film was of great importance to him, that he felt completely independent and found his style in this film for the first time. He used a shocking natural setting in this love movie, the screenplay of which was inspired by one of his own stories.

One of Ingmar Bergman's first critically acclaimed films was 1952's Kvinnors Vantan ("Women In Wait"). This time in the movie, the emotional relationships of women are discussed in the patterns of comedy. The elevator scene, where humor is most successfully used, was also an example of Ingmar Bergman's increasing technical skill. The last of the "summer films", 1953's Sommaren med Monika ("Last Summer with Monika") is about a teenage romance. In this film, it is possible to see the effects of intense and happy eroticism and the bright colors of the summer light. The critically acclaimed film was commercial; also gained success.

This bright and optimistic film was followed by Gycklarnas Afton (“Sawdust and Gilding”), one of the most striking examples of Ingmar Bergman's pessimism. The film was about the tensions between a group of circus performers. The sexual battle between circus owner Albert, his sexually cold wife, his jealous mistress Anne, and the actress Fans chasing Anne, was not handled with visually striking. The sexual inadequacies of these actors, which coincided with the sense of humiliation stemming from their social position, took on an almost expressive expression. The film, which received unbelievably bad reviews on its first screening, is considered one of the milestones of Ingmar Bergman's cinema today.

Ingmar Bergman was also appointed as the director of Malmö City Theatre. He was a distinguished director, especially in the theater, with the intense relationships he established with his actors. Here he staged plays by authors such as Strindberg, Moliere, Goethe, and Ibsen for over ten years. He was slowly forming his own player group. During this period, he made two notable films: Kvinnodröm (“Journey to Autumn”) and Nara Livet (“On the Verge of the Flame”). In particular, the latter brought up typical Bergman issues while telling the stories of women in a maternity clinic.

The masterpiece of this period is Sommarnatteris Leende ("Smiles on a Summer Night"), considered one of the most successful emotional comedies in Swedish cinema. Reminiscent of the intriguing comedies of writers like Marivaux and Moliere, the plot takes place in a country house in 1901. The film is loaded with fine poetry, an intense recollection process, and observations on the art-reality relationship behind the apparent intrigues. It is one of Ingmar Bergman's most frequently screened films.

The film that brought Bergman worldwide success was 1957's Det Sjunde Inseglet (The Seventh Seal). The screenplay, adapted by the director from his own play called Tramalung ("Wall Painting"), is about the adventures of the knight Antonius Blok. When Blok returns from the Crusade, which he joined with his squire Jons, he finds his country devastated by the plague. Of all the manifestations of the Middle Ages, the only thing he encounters as he seeks God is Death. Blok ultimately plays a game of chess with Death, revealing himself and all of humanity. The Seventh Seal is an expression of contemporary pessimism despite its medieval plot.

After this film, the director handled a contemporary subject in Smnltronstallet (“Wild Flowers”). The film became a masterpiece on Ingmar Bergman's topics such as old age, loneliness, and remembrance, with the unforgettable play of former generation director Victor Sjöström in the lead role. Professor Borg, who takes a car ride with his bride to receive the honor certificate to be given to him at the end of a successful career, relives the important moments of his life during his journey. The film oscillates between the present and the past, dreams, and reality. This also integrates with Ingmar Bergman's soft and lyrical camerawork in the film. Professor Borg is the narrative of a quest that man undertakes in his own person, not unlike the knight Blok's quest for God in his previous film. In 1960, the director again made a film about the Middle Ages. Jungfrukallen (“The Virgin Source”) was the story of a gruesome murder and vengeance in return. Ingmar Bergman presented God as a ruthless and silent force in the film.

The 1969 production of En Passion (“A Passion”) brought innovations in terms of film technique and narration. Here, Ingmar Bergman used faded film and a game technique where actors look directly into the camera. Critics have expressed conflicting opinions about this movie. The general opinion was that Ingmar Bergman undermined its main themes by emulating an innovative film understanding. 1970's The Touch was the director's first American production, the story of a Swedish couple and an American doctor who came into their lives, again a typical Bergman subject. Bergman and his world were now somewhat predictable.

The director's recent films differed in terms of quality and level. A German-Swedish co-production of 1978, The Serpent's Egg is an exaggerated World War II movie. The World War II film Sonate d'automne ("Autumn Sonata") 1980, in which Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullman portrayed a mother-daughter conflict, was considered a masterpiece. Bergman had two more important works after this film; Fanny and Alexander, a German-made period film called Ausdem leben der Marionetten (“From the Life of Puppets”). The director announced that he left the cinema after this movie.

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