Fanny and Alexander
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List Price: $29.99
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• NTSC
In Theaters : 17 June, 1983 |
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Fanny and Alexander Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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A Mesmerizing Masterpiece
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II can remember the exact details of when I saw certain films for the first time. I remember the hot July 4th I saw THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT with the family. We went because the theatre was air conditioned and it was better than standing in the heat watching a parade. The film made me discover the magic of Hollywood. It was a rainy afternoon and I was sick on the couch when I saw SINGING IN THE RAIN on television. I was in awe. THE SOUND OF MUSIC was a Saturday afternoon matinee for children, long after the original release, but it was the beginning of a love affair. I had to see JAWS but I was too young as far as my parents were concerned, so I managed to see it by convincing an elderly uncle to see it. Not only did my parents never suspect I just wanted to see the film, I was praised for being so attentive to Uncle John. Now that I think of it, I saw THE TOWERING INFERNO and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE under the same premise. For FANNY AND ALEXANDER, I had to walk two miles in the cold to a small theatre to see it. I was so captivated, I purchased a book with the screenplay the next day, began reading what I could about Ingmar Bergman, rented his other films that were released in VHS, and saw FANNY AND ALEXANDER about three more times and rented it as soon as it was available on VHS. I suppose it's ironic I purchased this edition of FANNY AND ALEXANDER during a blizzard. It has just been released and I had to have it.
This version, released as part of the acclaimed Criterion Collection, contains the theatrical version of the film as well as the longer version for Swedish television and a disc discussing the making of the film. We see Alexander, the main character of the film who is both mysterious and beguiling. Emotionally he's far advanced than other boys his age, yet he's not so advanced that he's not scarred by life's hurts, particularly the death of his father and the changes that result from this loss. The film is Bergman at his best. His life as a member of the Ekdahl theatrical family is lavish and the people in it: his widowed grandmother, loving mother, kind hearted by weak father, his philandering uncle, the antique dealer who loves the Ekdahl matriarch but hides his love due to the prohibitions of a Christian woman loving a Jewish man, are all eccentric. This is opposed to the stark life and hard people who inhabit Alexander's life after his mother remarries a widowed Lutheran bishop. Of course there are all sorts of "Bergamesque" details: ghosts appearing, waling that expresses deep existential angst, telepathic destruction (not in a Stephen King way), but most of all, near perfection. The film is believed to be a loose autobiography of Bergman's own life, as is the case in many of his films. It also features a number of actors familiar to Bergman fans: Borje Ahlstedt, Allan Edwall, Jan Malmsjo, and Marianne Aminoff to name a few; however the two actors that make this film so enthralling are the children Pernilla Allwin and Bertil Guve who played Fanny and Alexander respectively.
The Criterion Five Disc edition is the best choice for this film. It contains not only the theatrical version but also the longer version that aired on Swedish television that fills in some of the gaps in the shorter theatrical version. It also contains a making of disc which is fun watch, even if it is probably more sanitized than the original filming.
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