The following review contains spoilers for “Fanny and Alexander.”
In conjunction with his History of International Cinema and Five International Masters classes, cinema arts professor Christopher Sepesey showed the theatrical release of “Fanny and Alexander” this Sunday, April 6, in the GRW.
This semester there were four films screened every Sunday in addition to the 9 p.m. Wednesday screenings every week.
“Fanny and Alexander,” originally a miniseries, was cut down to be a theatrical 188 minutes rather than its original 312. The Swedish film was intended to be legendary director Ingmar Bergman’s last, though he wrote several screenplays after its release.
Throughout “Fanny and Alexander’s” three-hour run time, Bergman is able to encapsulate his three major areas of focus: sex, philosophy and feminism. The film follows the Ekdahl family after the passing of Oscar Ekdahl, the husband of Emilie and the father of the titular Fanny and Alexander.
Alexander, who acts as the protagonist of the film, is a ten year old boy with a wild imagination. This is shown through statues coming to life and ghosts appearing to Alexander.
Fanny is Alexander’s eight year old sister and, while she is less focused on, acts as Alexander’s best friend. Throughout the film, Fanny and Alexander are always looking after the other first.
Their relationship is one of the many strengths of the film, though it’s easy to take for granted.
Fanny and Alexander never have a conversation with one another about how the plot is affecting them. But, through the performances of these young actors, they are able to sell their relationship, and their few and subtle interactions mean so much.
Truly, Bergman excels at the little things while never losing sight of what’s most important to his stories.
The film is also riddled with a myriad of side characters. Grandmother Helena is the matriarch of the family, and after the passing of her husband, has begun seeing the family friend Uncle Isak.
Then there are Oscar’s brothers, their spouses, their children and their maids. While they play a more important role in the miniseries, these characters are all likable enough.
However, due to the more condensed nature of the film, there are certain plot lines that are introduced and never expanded upon. This was a bit disappointing to me, since the side characters in this movie are some of Bergman’s most interesting.
After Oscar’s passing, Emilie marries the bishop. The bishop asks Emilie to come to him with no possessions, causing Fanny and Alexander to leave behind almost all of their belongings.
While I thought the film going forward was going to be about two spoiled kids learning to do things for themselves, this was the first indication of the bishop’s manipulation.
Bergman writes manipulation so well that it works on the viewer just as well as it does on his characters.
This makes sense when one considers that this story is a bit autobiographical. Bergman himself was the son of a Lutheran minister, who raised him and his little sister Margareta. This paints this chunk of the film even darker.
The bishop proceeds to manipulate Emilie, isolate the family and eventually brutally beats Alexander with a carpet beater for telling a lie. When Emilie asks for a divorce, the bishop refuses and states that he will take the children if she tries to leave him.
This film continues Bergman’s strained relationship with religion that’s present in his “Trilogy of Faith,” also known as the “Spider-God Trilogy.” This consists of “Through a Glass Darkly,” “Winter Light” and “The Silence.”
These three films each dive into the existence of God, heaven and what the existence of a god even means. “Fanny and Alexander” specifically asks the question of what happens when power is abused in the name of God.
The film also has a final message about trauma of any kind. After the minister has passed, Alexander sees him as a ghost who promises: “You can never escape me.”
This seems to be what Bergman experienced himself after his father’s passing. Even though the man who tormented him was gone, he could never escape what he went through and how it changed him.
We don’t know if this ghost is real or a manifestation of Alexander’s trauma, similar to how Bergman discusses God. Is He real or have we just been told so? Is this His voice speaking, or is this just a feeling of guilt re-enforced into ourselves? Bergman does not give an answer. He just asks the question.
Bergman is truly one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, being able to blend surrealism and mysticism with grounded stories that beg the audience to answer the thematic questions themselves.
If you enjoyed this film, I recommend “Au Revoir Les Enfants” by Luis Malle, “La Notte” by Antonioni and any other Bergman film, especially from the “Spider-God Trilogy.”