View source for Ingmar Bergman

{{Short description|Swedish filmmaker (1918–2007)}}
{{distinguish|Ingrid Bergman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name           = Ingmar Bergman
| image          = Ingmar Bergman (1966).jpg
| caption        = Bergman in 1966
| birth_name     = Ernst Ingmar Bergman
| other_names    = Buntel Eriksson
| birth_date     = {{Birth date|df=y|1918|07|14}}
| birth_place    = [[Uppsala]], Sweden
| death_date     = {{Death date and age|df=y|2007|07|30|1918|07|14}}
| death_place    = [[Fårö]], Sweden
| occupation     = {{hlist|Director|screenwriter}}
| years_active   = 1944–2005
| spouse         = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage|[[Else Fisher]]|1943|1945|end=div}}|{{marriage|Ellen Lundström|1945|1950|end=div}}|{{marriage|[[Gun Bergman|Gun Grut]]|1951|1959|end=div}}|{{marriage|[[Käbi Laretei]]|1959|1969|end=div}} |{{marriage|Ingrid von Rosen|1971|1995|end=died}}}}
| children       = 9, including [[Linn Ullmann|Linn]], [[Eva Bergman|Eva]], [[Mats Bergman|Mats]], [[Anna Bergman|Anna]] and [[Daniel Bergman|Daniel]]
| family         = 
| father         = [[Erik Bergman (Lutheran minister)|Erik Bergman]]
| awards         = [[List of accolades and awards received by Ingmar Bergman#Awards and nominations|Full list]]
| signature      = Ingmar Bergman Signature.png
| signature_size = 200px
}}

'''Ernst Ingmar Bergman'''{{efn|{{IPA|sv|ˈɪ̌ŋːmar ˈbæ̌rjman|lang|sv-Ingmar_Bergman.ogg}}|name=|group=}} (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the greatest and most important filmmakers in the [[history of cinema]], most notably as a prominent figure of both European film industry and [[Cinema of Sweden|Swedish cinema]]. His films have been described as "profoundly personal meditations into the myriad struggles facing the psyche and the soul."<ref>{{cite news |author=Rothstein, Mervyn |date=30 July 2007 |title=Ingmar Bergman, Master Director, Dies at 89 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/movies/30cnd-bergman.html |access-date=31 July 2007 |work=[[The New York Times]] |issn=0362-4331 |quote=Ingmar Bergman, the 'poet with the camera' who is considered one of the greatest directors in motion picture history, died today on the small island of Faro where he lived on the Baltic coast of Sweden, Astrid Soderbergh Widding, president of The Ingmar Bergman Foundation, said. Bergman was 89.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=Tuohy, Andy |title=A-Z Great Film Directors |date=3 September 2015 |publisher=Octopus |isbn=9781844038558}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Gallagher, John |url=https://archive.org/details/filmdirectorsond00gall |title=Film Directors on Directing |date=1 January 1989 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9780275932725 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Among his most acclaimed works are ''[[The Seventh Seal]]'' (1957), ''[[Wild Strawberries (film)|Wild Strawberries]]'' (1957), ''[[Persona (1966 film)|Persona]]'' (1966) and ''[[Fanny and Alexander]]'' (1982), which were included in the [[The Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time 2012|2012 edition of ''Sight & Sound''{{'s}} Greatest Films of All Time]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Critics' top 100 |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207035347/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 February 2016 |website=British Film Institute |access-date=11 March 2023}}</ref> He was also ranked No. 8 on the magazine's 2002 "Greatest Directors of All Time" list.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/directors-directors.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013231353/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/directors-directors.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 October 2018|title=BFI &#124; Sight & Sound &#124; Top Ten Poll 2002 – The Directors' Top Ten Directors|date=13 October 2018}}</ref> Other notable works include ''[[Sawdust and Tinsel]]'' (1953), ''[[A Lesson in Love (1954 film)|A Lesson in Love]]'' (1954), ''[[Smiles of a Summer Night]]'' (1955), ''[[The Virgin Spring]]'' (1960), ''[[Through a Glass Darkly (film)|Through a Glass Darkly]]'' (1961), ''[[Winter Light]]'' and ''[[The Silence (1963 film)|The Silence]]'' (both 1963), ''[[Shame (1968 film)|Shame]]'' (1968) which was called the director's ultimate personal vision of war,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael (paperback) |url=https://www.loa.org/books/348-the-age-of-movies-selected-writings-of-pauline-kael-paperback/ |access-date=6 October 2025 |website=Library of America |language=en-US}}</ref> ''[[Cries and Whispers]]'' (1972), ''[[Scenes from a Marriage]]'' (1973) and ''[[Autumn Sonata]]'' (1978). His films led to international acclaim and garnered [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] wins and nominations throughout his career, including his personal [[Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award]] and three competitive wins accepted for [[Academy Award for Best International Feature Film|Best Foreign Language Film]] to [[List of Swedish submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film|Swedish entries]].

Bergman directed more than 60 films and documentaries, most of which he also wrote, for both cinema releases and television screenings. Most of his films were set in Sweden, and many of his films from 1961 onward were filmed on the island of [[Fårö]]. He forged a creative partnership with his cinematographers [[Gunnar Fischer]] and [[Sven Nykvist]]. Bergman also had a theatrical career that included periods as Leading Director of Sweden's [[Royal Dramatic Theatre]] in Stockholm and of Germany's [[Residenztheater]] in Munich.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Norwich|first=John Julius|title=Oxford illustrated encyclopedia|date=1985–1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|others=Judge, Harry George., Toyne, Anthony.|isbn=0-19-869129-7|location=Oxford [England]|pages=44|oclc=11814265}}</ref> He directed more than 170 plays. Among his company of actors were [[Harriet Andersson]], [[Bibi Andersson]], [[Liv Ullmann]], [[Gunnar Björnstrand]], [[Erland Josephson]], [[Ingrid Thulin]], [[Gunnel Lindblom]] and [[Max von Sydow]].

==Biography==
===Early life===
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born in [[Uppsala]] on 14 July 1918,{{sfn|Steene|2005|p=23}} the son of nurse Karin ({{née|Åkerblom}}) and [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] minister (and later chaplain to the [[Monarch of Sweden|King of Sweden]]) [[Erik Bergman (Lutheran minister)|Erik Bergman]]. His mother was of [[Walloons|Walloon]] descent.{{sfn|Gado|1986|p=374}}{{efn|In a book published in 2011, Bergman's niece Veronica Ralston suggested that the director was not identical to the child born to Erik and Karin Bergman in July 1918. Ralston's claim was that this child would have died and been substituted for another child allegedly born to Erik Bergman in an [[Extramarital affair|extramarital relationship]].<ref>[https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/film-tv/who-was-the-mother-of-ingmar-bergman/ Who was the mother of Ingmar Bergman?] ''Dagens Nyheter'', 26 May 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2011.</ref> The [[DNA]] evidence was weakened after the laboratory consulted by Ralston clarified that it had only been possible to extract DNA from one out of two stamps submitted for testing, and the child supposedly substituted for the newborn child of Karin Bergman was later identified as having emigrated to the US in 1923 with his adopted parents and lived there until his death in 1982.<ref>Clas Barkman, "[https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/nya-turer-i-mysteriet-kring-bergman/ Nya turer i mysteriet kring Bergman]", ''Dagens Nyheter'', 4 June 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2011</ref>}} The Bergman family was originally from [[Järvsö]]. On his father's side, Bergman was a descendant of the noble [[Bröms]], [[Ehrenskiöld]], and [[Stockenström]] clergy families of Finnish, German, and Swedish origin. His father also descended from the German noble families {{ill|Flach (noble family)|lt=Flach|sv|Flach}} and [[de Frese]] introduced at the Swedish [[Riddarhuset]]. Bergman's paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather were cousins, making his parents second cousins. On his mother's side, he was descended from Dutch merchant Paul Calwagen, who left Holland for Sweden in the 17th century; Paul's Dutch-Swedish wife, Maria van der Hagen, was a descendant of the court painter [[Laurens van der Plas]]. Bergman's mother was also a descendant of the noble [[Tigerschiöld]] and [[Weinholz]] families, as well as the {{ill|Bure (noble family)|lt=Bure|sv|Bure (adlig släkt)}} family.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

[[File:Ingmar 86135a.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Bergman as a young man]]
Bergman grew up with his older brother [[Dag Bergman|Dag]] and younger sister [[Margareta Bergman|Margareta]] surrounded by [[religious image]]ry and discussion. His father was a conservative parish minister with strict ideas of parenting. Ingmar was locked up in dark closets for infractions such as wetting himself. "While father preached away in the pulpit and the congregation prayed, sang, or listened", Ingmar wrote in his autobiography ''Laterna Magica'', "I devoted my interest to the church's mysterious world of low arches, thick walls, the smell of [[eternity]], the coloured sunlight quivering above the strangest vegetation of [[medieval painting]]s and carved figures on ceilings and walls. There was everything that one's imagination could desire—[[angel]]s, [[saint]]s, dragons, [[prophet]]s, devils, humans..." Although raised in a devout [[Lutheran]] household, Bergman later stated that he lost his faith at age eight, and came to terms with this fact while making ''[[Winter Light]]'' in 1962.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Films of Ingmar Bergman|author=Kalin, Jesse|year=2003|page=193}}</ref> His interest in theatre and film began early; at the age of nine, he traded a set of [[tin soldier]]s for a [[magic lantern]]. Within a year, he had created a private world by playing with this toy in which he felt completely at home. He fashioned his own scenery, [[marionette]]s, and lighting effects and gave puppet productions of [[August Strindberg|Strindberg]] plays in which he spoke all the parts."<ref>{{cite news|title=Ingmar Bergman, Master Filmmaker, Dies at 89|author=Rothstein, Mervyn|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=31 July 2007}}</ref>{{efn|For an extended discussion of the profound influence that August Strindberg's work played in Bergman's life and career, see: Ottiliana Rolandsson, ''Pure Artistry: Ingmar Bergman, the Face as Portal and the Performance of the Soul'', Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2010, especially chapter 3, "Bergman, Strindberg and the Territories of Imagination".}}

Bergman attended the [[Palmgrenska samskolan|Palmgren School]] as a teenager. His school years were unhappy,{{sfn|Steene|2005|p=33}} and he remembered them unfavourably in later years. In a 1944 letter concerning the film ''[[Torment (1944 film)|Torment]]'' (sometimes known as ''Frenzy''), which sparked debate on the condition of Swedish high schools (and which Bergman had written),{{sfn|Gado|1986|p=59}} the school's principal Henning Håkanson wrote, among other things, that Bergman had been a "problem child".<ref>{{cite book|title=Ingmar Bergman: The Life and Films of the Last Great European Director|author=Macnab, Geoffrey|publisher=I.B. Tauris|date=2009|isbn=978-0857713575}}</ref> Bergman wrote in a response that he had strongly disliked the emphasis on homework and testing in his formal schooling.

In 1934, aged 16, he was sent to Germany to spend the summer holidays with family friends. He attended a [[NSDAP|Nazi]] rally in [[Weimar]] at which he saw [[Adolf Hitler]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Vermilye, Jerry|title=Ingmar Bergman: His Life and Films|year=2001|page=6}}; see also Bergman's autobiography, ''Laterna Magica''.</ref> He later wrote in ''Laterna Magica'' (''The Magic Lantern'') about the visit to Germany, describing how the German family had put a portrait of Hitler on the wall by his bed, and that "for many years, I was on Hitler's side, delighted by his success and saddened by his defeats".<ref>Ingmar Bergman, ''The Magic Lantern'' (transl. from Swedish: ''Laterna Magica''), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007; {{ISBN|978-0-226-04382-1}}.</ref> Bergman commented that "Hitler was unbelievably [[charisma]]tic. He electrified the crowd. ... The [[Nazism]] I had seen seemed fun and youthful."<ref name=":0">{{cite news |date=7 September 1999 |title=Bergman admits Nazi past |work=BBC News |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/441057.stm |access-date=14 May 2022}}</ref> Bergman did two five-month stretches of mandatory military service in Sweden.<ref>Peter Ohlin. (2009.) "Bergman's Nazi Past", ''Scandinavian Studies'', '''81'''(4):437-74.</ref> He later reflected, <blockquote>When the doors to the concentration camps were thrown open, at first I did not want to believe my eyes ... When the truth came out it was a hideous shock for me. In a brutal and violent way I was suddenly ripped of my innocence.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>

Bergman enrolled at Stockholm University College (later renamed [[Stockholm University]]) in 1937, to study art and literature. He spent most of his time involved in student theatre and became a "genuine movie addict".<ref>{{cite book|author=Vermilye, Jerry|title=Ingmar Bergman: His Life and Films|year=2001|page=6}}</ref> At the same time, a romantic involvement led to a physical confrontation with his father which resulted in a break in their relationship which lasted for many years. Although he did not graduate from the university, he wrote a number of plays and an opera, and became an assistant director at a local theatre. In 1942, he was given the opportunity to direct one of his own scripts, ''Caspar's Death''. The play was seen by members of [[AB Svensk Filmindustri|Svensk Filmindustri]], which then offered Bergman a position working on scripts. He married [[Else Fisher]] in 1943.

===Film career until 1975===
[[File:Ingmar Bergman Smultronstallet.jpg|thumb|Bergman in 1957]]
Bergman's film career began in 1941 with his work rewriting scripts, but his first major accomplishment was in 1944 when he wrote the screenplay for ''[[Torment (1944 film)|Torment]]'' (a.k.a. ''Frenzy'') (''Hets''), a film directed by [[Alf Sjöberg]]. Along with writing the screenplay, he was also appointed assistant director of the film. In his second autobiographical book, ''Images: My Life in Film'', Bergman describes the filming of the exteriors as his actual film directorial debut.<ref>Ingmar Bergman, ''Images : my life in film'' (translated from the Swedish by Marianne Ruuth), London: Bloomsbury, 1994. {{ISBN|0-7475-1670-7}}.</ref> The film sparked debate on Swedish formal education. When Henning Håkanson (the principal of the high school Bergman had attended) wrote a letter following the film's release, Bergman, according to scholar Frank Gado, disparaged in a response what he viewed as Håkanson's implication that students "who did not fit some arbitrary prescription of worthiness deserved the system's cruel neglect".{{sfn|Gado|1986|p=59}} Bergman also stated in the letter that he "hated school as a principle, as a system and as an institution. And as such I have definitely not wanted to criticize my own school, but all schools."<ref>Bergman, Ingmar. in the ''Aftonbladet'' (9 October 1944) (translated from Swedish)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tcm.turner.com/this-month/article.html?isPreview=&id=1296451%7C1073693&name=Torment|title=Torment (1944)|author=Fristoe, Roger|publisher=Turner Classic Movies, Inc.|access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref> The international success of this film led to Bergman's first opportunity to direct a year later. During the next ten years he wrote and directed more than a dozen films, including ''[[Prison (1949 film)|Prison]]'' (''Fängelse'') in 1949, as well as ''[[Sawdust and Tinsel]]'' (''Gycklarnas afton'') and ''[[Summer with Monika]]'' (''Sommaren med Monika''), both released in 1953.

[[File:Bergman Sjostrom 1957.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left| Bergman and [[Victor Sjöström]] on the set of ''[[Wild Strawberries (film)|Wild Strawberries]]'' (1957)]]

Bergman first achieved worldwide success with ''[[Smiles of a Summer Night]]'' (''Sommarnattens leende'', 1955), which won for "Best poetic humour" and was nominated for the [[Palme d'Or]] at Cannes the following year. This was followed by ''[[The Seventh Seal]]'' (''Det sjunde inseglet'') and ''[[Wild Strawberries (film)|Wild Strawberries]]'' (''Smultronstället''), released in Sweden ten months apart in 1957. ''The Seventh Seal'' won a special jury prize and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and ''Wild Strawberries'' won numerous awards for Bergman and its star, [[Victor Sjöström]]. Bergman continued to be productive for the next two decades. From the early 1960s, he spent much of his life on the island of [[Fårö]], where he made several films.

In the early 1960s he directed three films that explored the theme of faith and doubt in God, ''[[Through a Glass Darkly (film)|Through a Glass Darkly]]'' (''Såsom i en Spegel'', 1961), ''[[Winter Light]]'' (''Nattvardsgästerna'', 1962), and ''[[The Silence (1963 film)|The Silence]]'' (''Tystnaden'', 1963). Critics created the notion that the common themes in these three films made them a trilogy or cinematic [[triptych]]. Bergman initially responded that he did not plan these three films as a trilogy, and that he could not see any common motifs in them, but he later seemed to adopt the notion, with some equivocation.<ref>Stated in [[Marie Nyreröd]]'s interview series (the first part named ''Bergman och filmen'') aired on [[Sveriges Television]] Easter 2004.</ref>{{efn|In contrast, in 1964 Bergman had the three scripts published in a single volume: "These three films deal with reduction. ''Through a Glass Darkly''&nbsp;– conquered certainty. ''Winter Light''&nbsp;– penetrated certainty. ''The Silence''&nbsp;– God's silence&nbsp;— the negative imprint. Therefore, they constitute a trilogy." [[The Criterion Collection]] groups the films as a trilogy in a [[boxed set]]. In the 1963 documentary ''[[Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie]]'', about the making of ''Winter Light'', supports the idea that Bergman did not plan a trilogy. In the interview with Bergman about writing the script of ''Winter Light'', and the interviews made during the shooting of it, he hardly mentions ''[[Through a Glass Darkly (film)|Through a Glass Darkly]]''. Instead, he discusses the themes of ''Winter Light'', in particular the religious issues, in relation to ''[[The Virgin Spring]]''.}} His parody of the films of [[Federico Fellini]], ''[[All These Women]]'' (''För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor'') was released in 1964.<ref>{{cite book|author=Theall, Donald F.|title=Beyond the Word: reconstructing sense in the Joyce era of technology, culture, and communication|year=1995|page=35|publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9780802006301}}</ref>

''[[Persona (1966 film)|Persona]]'' (1966), starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann, is a film Bergman considered one of his most important works. While the highly experimental film won few awards, it has been considered his masterpiece. Other films of the period include ''[[The Virgin Spring]]'' (''Jungfrukällan'', 1960), ''[[Hour of the Wolf]]'' (''Vargtimmen'', 1968), ''[[Shame (1968 film)|Shame]]'' (''Skammen'', 1968) and ''[[The Passion of Anna]]'' (''En Passion'', 1969). With his cinematographer [[Sven Nykvist]], Bergman made use of a crimson color scheme for ''[[Cries and Whispers]]'' (1972), which received a nomination for the [[46th Academy Awards|Academy Award for Best Picture]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1974|title=The 46th Academy Awards (1974) Nominees and Winners |access-date=31 December 2011|publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315090403/http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1974|archive-date=15 March 2015}}</ref> He also produced extensively for Swedish television at this time. Two works of note were ''[[Scenes from a Marriage]]'' (''Scener ur ett äktenskap'', 1973) and ''[[The Magic Flute (1975 film)|The Magic Flute]]'' (''Trollflöjten'', 1975).
[[File:Ingmar Bergman & Sven Nykvist.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Bergman with his long-time cinematographer [[Sven Nykvist]] during the production of ''[[Through a Glass Darkly (film)|Through a Glass Darkly]]'' (1960)]]

===Tax evasion charges in 1976===
On 30 January 1976, while rehearsing [[August Strindberg]]'s ''[[The Dance of Death (Strindberg)|The Dance of Death]]'' at the [[Royal Dramatic Theatre]] in Stockholm, he was arrested by two plainclothes police officers and charged with income tax evasion. The impact on Bergman was devastating. He suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of the humiliation, and was hospitalised in a state of deep depression.

The investigation focused on an alleged 1970 transaction of 500,000 [[Swedish kronor]] (SEK) between Bergman's Swedish company ''Cinematograf'' and its Swiss subsidiary ''Persona'', an entity that was mainly used for the paying of salaries to foreign actors. Bergman dissolved ''Persona'' in 1974 after having been notified by the Swedish Central Bank and subsequently reported the income. On 23 March 1976, the special prosecutor Anders Nordenadler dropped the charges against Bergman, saying that the alleged crime had no legal basis, and added that it would be like bringing "charges against a person who has stolen his own car, thinking it was someone else's".<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=http://svtplay.se/v/1371714/oppet_arkiv/atal_mot_bergman_laggs_ned|title=Åtal mot Bergman läggs ned|trans-title=Charges against Bergman dropped |work=[[Rapport]]|publisher=[[Sveriges Television]] |format=News report|date=23 March 1976|language=sv|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121001454/http://svtplay.se/v/1371714/oppet_arkiv/atal_mot_bergman_laggs_ned|archive-date=21 November 2011}}</ref> Director General Gösta S Ekman, chief of the Swedish Internal Revenue Service, defended the failed investigation, saying that the investigation was dealing with important legal material, and that Bergman was treated just like any other suspect. He expressed regret that Bergman had left the country, hoping that Bergman was a "stronger" person now when the investigation had shown that he had not done any wrong.<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=http://svtplay.se/v/1371715/oppet_arkiv/generaldirektor_om_bergmans_flykt|title=Generaldirektör om Bergmans flykt|trans-title=The Director General about Bergman's escape|work=[[Rapport]]|publisher=[[Sveriges Television]]|format=News report|date=22 April 1976|language=sv|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904225911/http://svtplay.se/v/1371715/oppet_arkiv/generaldirektor_om_bergmans_flykt|archive-date=4 September 2011}}</ref>

Although the charges were dropped, Bergman became disconsolate, fearing he would never again return to directing. Despite pleas by the Swedish prime minister [[Olof Palme]], high public figures, and leaders of the film industry, he vowed never to work in Sweden again. He closed down his studio on the island of [[Fårö]], suspended two announced film projects, and went into self-imposed exile in [[Munich]], [[West Germany]]. [[Harry Schein]], director of the [[Swedish Film Institute]], estimated the immediate damage as ten million SEK and hundreds of jobs lost.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=http://svtplay.se/v/1371717/oppet_arkiv/harry_schein_om_bergmans_flykt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120235441/http://svtplay.se/v/1371717/oppet_arkiv/harry_schein_om_bergmans_flykt|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 November 2011|title=Harry Schein om Bergmans flykt|trans-title=Harry Schein about Bergman's escape|work=[[Rapport]]|publisher=[[Sveriges Television]]|format=News report|date=22 April 1976|language=sv}}</ref>

===Aftermath following arrest===
Bergman then briefly considered the possibility of working in America. His next film, ''[[The Serpent's Egg (film)|The Serpent's Egg]]'' (1977) was a West German-U.S. production and was his second English-language film (the first being ''[[The Touch (1971 film)|The Touch]]'', 1971). This was followed by a British-Norwegian co-production, ''[[Autumn Sonata]]'' (''Höstsonaten'', 1978) starring [[Ingrid Bergman]] (no relation) and [[Liv Ullmann]], and ''[[From the Life of the Marionettes]]'' (''Aus dem Leben der Marionetten'', 1980) which was a British-West German co-production.

He temporarily returned to his homeland to direct ''[[Fanny and Alexander]]'' (''Fanny och Alexander'', 1982). Bergman stated that the film would be his last, and that afterwards he would focus on directing theatre. After that he wrote several film scripts and directed a number of television specials. As with previous work for television, some of these productions were later theatrically released. The last such work was ''[[Saraband]]'' (2003), a sequel to ''Scenes from a Marriage''. It was directed by Bergman when he was 84 years old.

Although he continued to operate from Munich, by mid-1978 Bergman had overcome some of his bitterness toward the Swedish government. In July of that year he visited Sweden, celebrating his sixtieth birthday on the island of Fårö, and partly resumed his work as a director at Royal Dramatic Theatre. To honour his return, the [[Swedish Film Institute]] launched a new [[Ingmar Bergman Award|Ingmar Bergman Prize]] to be awarded annually for excellence in filmmaking.<ref>Ephraim Katz, ''The Film Encyclopedia'', New York: HarperCollins, 5th ed., 1998.</ref> Still, he remained in Munich until 1984. In one of his last major interviews, conducted in 2005 on the island of [[Fårö]], Bergman said that despite being active during the exile, he had effectively lost eight years of his professional life.<ref>{{citation|title=Ingmar Bergman: Samtal på Fårö|trans-title=Ingmar Bergman: Talks on Fårö|publisher=[[Sveriges Radio]]|date=28 March 2005|language=sv}}</ref>

===Retirement and death===
[[File:Grave of Ingmar Bergman, may 2008.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The grave of Bergman and his last wife Ingrid.]]
Bergman retired from filmmaking in December 2003. He had hip surgery in October 2006 and was making a difficult recovery. He died in his sleep<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6952992.stm|title=Bergman was buried in a quiet ceremony|date=18 August 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=5 January 2010|location=London}}</ref> at age 89; his body was found at his home on the island of Fårö, on 30 July 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=114&sid=1204057|title=Film Great Ingmar Bergman Dies at 89|date=30 July 2007|access-date=30 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926211403/http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=114&sid=1204057|archive-date=26 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was the same day another renowned existentialist film director, [[Michelangelo Antonioni]], died. The interment was private, at the [[Fårö Church]] on 18 August 2007. A place in the Fårö churchyard was prepared for him under heavy secrecy. Although he was buried on the island of Fårö, his name and date of birth were inscribed under his wife's name on a tomb at Roslagsbro churchyard, [[Norrtälje Municipality]], several years before his death.

==Filmography==
{{Main|Ingmar Bergman filmography}}

==Bibliography==
* ''Four Screenplays: Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, and The Magician'' (1969) [screenplays]
* ''Three Films: Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and The Silence'' (1970) [screenplays]
* ''Persona and Shame: the Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman'' (1972) [screenplays]
* ''Four Stories: The Touch, Cries and Whispers, The Hour of the Wolf, and The Passion of Anna'' (1976) [screenplays]
* ''From the Life of the Marionettes'' (1980) [screenplay]
* ''Fanny and Alexander'' (1982) [screenplay]
* ''The Marriage Scenarios: Scenes from a Marriage, Face to Face, and Autumn Sonata'' (1983) [screenplays]
* ''The Magic Lantern: An Autobiography'' (1987) [nonfiction]
* ''[[The Best Intentions]]'' (1991) [novel]
* ''[[Sunday's Children]]'' (1993) [novel]
* ''[[Private Confessions]]'' (1996) [novel]
* ''Images: My Life in Film'' (2017) [nonfiction](originally published as ''Bilder'' (Norstedts Förlag, Stockholm, 1990)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Images: My Life in Film |url=https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/images-my-life-film |access-date=19 March 2024 |website=Ingmar Bergman official site |language=en}}</ref>)

==Style of working==
===Repertory company===
[[File:Ingmar Bergman and Ingrid Thulin -Tystnaden.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Bergman and actress [[Ingrid Thulin]] during the production of ''[[The Silence (1963 film)|The Silence]]'', 1963]]

Bergman developed a personal "repertory company" of Swedish actors whom he repeatedly cast in his films, including Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson, [[Erland Josephson]], Ingrid Thulin, [[Gunnel Lindblom]], and Gunnar Björnstrand, each of whom appeared in at least five Bergman features. Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann, who appeared in nine of Bergman's films and one televisual film (''Saraband''), was the last to join this group (in the film ''Persona''), and ultimately became the most closely associated with Bergman, both artistically and personally. They had a daughter together, [[Linn Ullmann]] (born 1966).

In Bergman's working arrangement with Sven Nykvist, his best-known [[cinematographer]], the two men developed sufficient rapport to allow Bergman not to worry about the composition of a shot until the day before it was filmed. On the morning of the shoot, he would briefly speak to Nykvist about the mood and composition he hoped for, and then leave Nykvist to work, lacking interruption or comment until post-production discussion of the next day's work.

===Financing===
[[File:Filmstaden.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A great number of Bergman's interior scenes were filmed at the ''[[Filmstaden]]'' studios north of Stockholm.]]

By Bergman's own account, he never had a problem with funding. He was one of the few film makers of the time who had managed to stay clear of international financing, working out his own techniques for funding films.<ref name=":1" /> He cited two reasons for this: one, that he did not live in the United States, which he viewed as obsessed with box-office earnings; and two, that his films tended to be low-budget affairs. (''Cries and Whispers'', for instance, was finished for about $450,000, while ''Scenes from a Marriage'', a six-episode television feature, cost only $200,000.)<ref name="autogenerated1975">American Film Institute seminar, 1975, on The Criterion Collection's 2006 DVD of ''The Virgin Spring''.</ref>

===Technique===
Bergman usually wrote his films' screenplays, thinking about them for months or years before starting the actual process of writing, which he viewed as somewhat tedious. His earlier films are carefully constructed and are either based on his plays or written in collaboration with other authors. Bergman stated that in his later works, when on occasion his actors would want to do things differently from his own intention, he would let them, noting that the results were often "disastrous" when he did not do so. As his career progressed, Bergman increasingly let his actors [[improvisation|improvise]] their dialogue. In his later films, he wrote just the ideas informing the scene and allowed his actors to determine the exact dialogue. When viewing [[daily rushes]], Bergman stressed the importance of being critical but unemotive, claiming that he asked himself not if the work was great or terrible, but rather if it was sufficient or needed to be reshot.<ref name="autogenerated1975" />

===Subjects===
Bergman's films usually deal with [[existentialism|existential]] questions of mortality, loneliness, and religious faith. In addition to these cerebral topics, however, sexual desire features in the foreground of most of his films, whether the central event is [[medieval]] [[Plague (disease)|plague]] (''[[The Seventh Seal]]''), upper-class family activity in early twentieth century Uppsala (''[[Fanny and Alexander]]''), or contemporary alienation (''[[The Silence (1963 film)|The Silence]]''). His female characters are usually more in touch with their sexuality than their male equivalents, and unafraid to proclaim it, sometimes with breathtaking overtness (as in ''[[Cries and Whispers]]'') as would define the work of "the conjurer," as Bergman called himself in a 1960 ''[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]'' cover story.<ref>{{cite news|title=THE SCREEN: I Am A Conjurer|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,871569,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202023804/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,871569,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 December 2007|magazine=Time|date=14 March 1960|access-date=16 November 2009}}</ref> In an interview with ''[[Playboy]]'' in 1964, he said: "The manifestation of sex is very important, and particularly to me, for above all, I don't want to make merely intellectual films. I want audiences to feel, to sense my films. This to me is much more important than their understanding them." Film, Bergman said, was his demanding mistress.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Ingmar Bergman's The Silence: Pictures in the Typewriter, Writings on the Screen|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J8QrcD04RjkC|publisher = University of Washington Press|date = 1 April 2010|isbn = 9780295801957|language = en|first = Maaret|last = Koskinen}}</ref> While he was a [[social democracy|social democrat]] as an adult, Bergman stated that "as an artist I'm not politically involved ... I don't make propaganda for either one attitude or the other."<ref>''Bergman on Bergman: Interviews with Ingmar Bergman''. By Stig Björkman, Torsten Manns, and Jonas Sima; translated by Paul Britten Austin. Simon & Schuster, New York. p. 176-178. Swedish edition copyright 1970; English translation 1973.</ref>

===Bergman's views on his career===
When asked in the series of interviews later titled "Ingmar Bergman – 3 dokumentärer om film, teater, Fårö och livet" conducted by Marie Nyreröd for Swedish TV and released in 2004, Bergman said that of his works, he held ''[[Winter Light]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2005/cteq/winter_light|title=Winter Light|year=2005}}</ref> ''[[Persona (1966 film)|Persona]]'', and ''[[Cries and Whispers]]''{{sfn|Steene|2005}} in the highest regard. There he also states that he managed to push the envelope of film making in the films ''Persona'' and ''Cries and Whispers''. Bergman stated on numerous occasions (for example in the interview book ''Bergman on Bergman'') that ''The Silence'' meant the end of the era in which religious questions were a major concern of his films. Bergman said that he would get depressed by his own films: "jittery and ready to cry... and miserable."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3616037.stm|title=Bergman 'depressed' by own films|date=10 April 2004|work=BBC News|access-date=2 October 2019|location=London}}</ref> In the same interview he also stated: "If there is one thing I miss about working with films, it is working with Sven" (Nykvist), the third cinematographer with whom he had collaborated.

===Theatrical work===
{{main|List of stage productions directed by Ingmar Bergman}}
Although Bergman was universally famous for his contribution to cinema, he was also an active and productive stage director throughout his life. During his studies at what was then Stockholm University College, he became active in its student theatre, where he made a name for himself early on. His first work after graduation was as a trainee-director at a Stockholm theatre. At twenty-six years, he became the youngest theatrical manager in Europe at the [[Helsingborg City Theatre]]. He stayed at [[Helsingborg]] for three years and then became the director at [[Gothenburg]] city theatre from 1946 to 1949.

He became director of the [[Malmö City Theatre]] in 1953, and remained for seven years. Many of his star actors were people with whom he began working on stage. He was the director of the [[Royal Dramatic Theatre]] in Stockholm from 1960 to 1966, and manager from 1963 to 1966, where he began a long-time collaboration with choreographer [[Donya Feuer]].

After Bergman left Sweden because of the tax evasion incident, he became director of the ''[[Residenz Theatre]]'' of [[Munich]], West Germany (1977–1984). He remained active in theatre throughout the 1990s and made his final production on stage with [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s ''[[Ghosts (play)|Ghosts]]'' at the [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]] in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Simonson|first=Robert|date=10 June 2003|title=Swedish Swan Song: Ingmar Bergman's Final Stage Effort, Ghosts, Plays BAM June 10–14|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/swedish-swan-song-ingmar-bergmans-final-stage-effort-ghosts-plays-bam-june-10-14-com-113655|access-date=17 August 2021|website=Playbill|language=en}}</ref>

==Personal life==
===Marriages and children===
[[File:Kabi-Laretei-Ingmar-Bergman.jpg|thumb|Bergman with fourth wife, Estonian concert pianist [[Käbi Laretei]]]]
Bergman was married five times:
* 25 March 1943&nbsp;– 1945, to [[Else Fisher]] (1 March 1918 – 3 March 2006), choreographer and dancer (divorced). Children:
** Lena Bergman, actress, born 1943.
* 22 July 1945&nbsp;– 1950, to [[Ellen Lundström]] (23 April 1919 – 6 March 2007), choreographer and film director (divorced). Children:
** [[Eva Bergman]], film director, born 1945
** Jan Bergman, film director (1946–2000)
** the twins [[Mats Bergman|Mats]] and [[Anna Bergman]], both actors and film directors, born in 1948.
* 1951&nbsp;– 1959, to Gun Grut (1916–1971), journalist (divorced). Children:
** Ingmar Bergman Jr., retired airline captain, born 1951.
* 1959&nbsp;– 1969, to [[Käbi Laretei]] (14 July 1922 – 31 October 2014), [[concert pianist]] (divorced). Children:
** [[Daniel Bergman]], film director, born 1962.
* 11 November 1971&nbsp;– 20 May 1995, to Ingrid von Rosen (maiden name Karlebo). Children:
** Maria von Rosen, author, born 1959.

[[File:Ullmann-Bergman-1968.jpeg|thumb|Bergman with Norwegian actress [[Liv Ullmann]] in 1968. The couple had a daughter, [[Linn Ullmann]], in 1966]]
The first four marriages ended in divorce, while the last ended when his wife Ingrid died of [[stomach cancer]] in 1995, aged 65. Aside from his marriages, Bergman had romantic relationships with actresses Harriet Andersson (1952–1955), Bibi Andersson (1955–1959), and Liv Ullmann (1965–1970). He was the father of writer [[Linn Ullmann]] with Ullmann. In all, Bergman had nine children, one of whom predeceased him. Bergman eventually married all the mothers of his children, with the exception of Liv Ullmann. His daughter with his last wife, Ingrid von Rosen, was born twelve years before their marriage. He had dozens of mistresses throughout his life and would justify the affairs to his various wives by telling them: "I have so many lives."<ref>{{cite web|title=Ingmar Bergman:The messy life of a magic filmmaker|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/ingmar-bergman-documentary-films-a-year-in-the-life-seventh-seal-wild-strawberries-sweden-a8746426.html|website=INDEPENDENT|date=25 January 2019}}</ref>

Although Bergman once described himself as one who had lost his faith in an afterlife, in 2000 he stated that a conversation he had with Erland Josephson helped him to believe that he would see Ingrid again. He said, "I'm not actually afraid of dying. On the contrary, really. I think it'll be interesting."<ref>{{Cite AV media |title=Ingmar Bergman: Reflections on Life, Death, and Love with Erland Josephson |year=2000 |last=Bergman |first=Ingmar |type=DVD |language=sv |publisher=The Criterion Collection |minutes=45}}</ref> In 2012, Max von Sydow stated to [[Charlie Rose]] that he had had many discussions with Bergman about religion which seemed to indicate that Bergman believed in an afterlife and von Sydow said that Bergman contacted him after his death to prove there was indeed a life after death, though he did not elaborate further.<ref>[[Max von Sydow]] on ''[[Charlie Rose (talk show)|Charlie Rose]]'', 2012.</ref>

In an early draft of his autobiography, Bergman said he raped his then-girlfriend [[Karin Lannby]]. The portion was edited out for the final version.<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 February 2022 |title=Exploring the lesser-known Nazi past of Ingmar Bergman |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-nazi-past-of-ingmar-bergman/ |access-date=16 April 2023 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk |language=en-US}}</ref> {{Dubious|date=October 2024}}

===Health===
Bergman suffered from [[insomnia]] and severe stomach problems dating back to childhood.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Magic Lantern: An Autobiography |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-670-81911-9 |website=Publishers Weekly |access-date=2 October 2022}}</ref> He called his nervous stomach "a calamity as foolish as it is humiliating" and joked that the private lavatories he secured at the theatres in which he worked represented his "most lasting contribution to the history of theatre."<ref>Ingmar Bergman, ''The Magic Lantern'' (transl. from Swedish: ''Laterna Magica''), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007; p. 62 {{ISBN|978-0-226-04382-1}}.</ref>

==Awards and nominations==
{{Main|List of accolades and awards received by Ingmar Bergman}}
In 1958, he won the [[Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director|Best Director]] award for ''[[Brink of Life]]'' at the [[1958 Cannes Film Festival|Cannes Film Festival]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1958/allAward.html |title=Awards 1958: All Awards |work=festival-cannes.fr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225140803/http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1958/allAward.html |archive-date=25 December 2013 }}</ref> and won the [[Golden Bear]] for ''[[Wild Strawberries (film)|Wild Strawberries]]'' at the [[8th Berlin International Film Festival|Berlin International Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1958/03_preistr_ger_1958/03_Preistraeger_1958.html |title=PRIZES & HONOURS 1958 |access-date=7 June 2014 |work=berlinale.de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015121020/http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1958/03_preistr_ger_1958/03_Preistraeger_1958.html |archive-date=15 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1960 Bergman was featured in the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', the first foreign-language filmmaker to do so since [[Leni Riefenstahl]] in 1936.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Why Ingmar Bergman Mattered|url=http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1648084-1,00.html|magazine=Time|date=30 July 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Ingmar Bergman Mar. 24 1960|url=https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19600314,00.html|magazine=Time}}</ref> In 1971, Bergman received the [[Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award]] at the [[43rd Academy Awards|Academy Awards]] ceremony. Three of his films (''[[The Virgin Spring]]'', ''[[Through a Glass Darkly (film)|Through a Glass Darkly]]'', and ''[[Fanny and Alexander]]'') won the [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]]. In 1997, he was awarded the [[Palme d'Or#Honorary Palme d'Or|Palme des Palmes (Palm of the Palms)]] at the [[1997 Cannes Film Festival|50th anniversary]] of the [[Cannes Film Festival]]. He won many other awards and has been nominated for numerous other awards.

'''Academy Awards'''
{|class="wikitable sortable"
!Year
!Category
!Nominated work
!Result
|-
| [[32nd Academy Awards|1959]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]]
| ''[[Wild Strawberries (film)|Wild Strawberries]]''
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[35th Academy Awards|1962]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]]
| ''[[Through a Glass Darkly (film)|Through a Glass Darkly]]''
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="3" | [[46th Academy Awards|1973]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]
| rowspan="3" | ''[[Cries and Whispers]]''
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[49th Academy Awards|1976]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| ''[[Face to Face (1976 film)|Face to Face]]''
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[51st Academy Awards|1978]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]]
| ''[[Autumn Sonata]]''
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[56th Academy Awards|1983]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Fanny and Alexander]]''
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]]
| {{nom}}
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Accolades for Bergman's directed films
|-
!rowspan="2"|Year
!rowspan="2"|Film
!colspan="2"|Academy Awards
!colspan="2"|BAFTA Awards
!colspan="2"|Golden Globe Awards
!colspan="2"|Guldbagge Awards
|-
!Nominations
!Wins
!Nominations
!Wins
!Nominations
!Wins
!Nominations
!Wins
|-
|1955
!scope="row"|''Smiles of a Summer Night''
|
|
|align=center|3
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1957
!scope="row"|''Wild Strawberries''
|align=center|1
|
|align=center|2
|
|align=center|1
|align=center|1
|
|
|-
|1958
!scope="row"|''The Magician''
|
|
|align=center|1
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1960
!scope="row"|''The Virgin Spring''
|align=center|2
|align=center|1
|
|
|align=center|1
|
|
|
|-
|1961
!scope="row"|''Through a Glass Darkly''
|align=center|2
|align=center|1
|align=center|2
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1963
!scope="row"|''The Silence''
|
|
|
|
|
|
|align=center|3
|align=center|3
|-
|1966
!scope="row"|''Persona''
|
|
|align=center|1
|
|
|
|align=center|2
|align=center|2
|-
|1968
!scope="row"|''Shame''
|
|
|
|
|align=center|1
|
|align=center|1
|align=center|1
|-
|1972
!scope="row"|''Cries and Whispers''
|align=center|5
|align=center|1
|align=center|2
|
|align=center|1
|
|align=center|3
|align=center|3
|-
|1973
!scope="row"|''Scenes from a Marriage''
|
|
|align=center|1
|
|align=center|2
|align=center|1
|
|
|-
|1975
!scope="row"|''The Magic Flute''
|align=center|1
|
|align=center|1
|align=center|1
|align=center|1
|
|
|
|-
|1976
!scope="row"|''Face to Face''
|align=center|2
|
|align=center|1
|
|align=center|2
|align=center|1
|
|
|-
|1978
!scope="row"|''Autumn Sonata''
|align=center|2
|
|
|
|align=center|2
|align=center|1
|
|
|-
|1982
!scope="row"|''Fanny and Alexander''
|align=center|6
|align=center|4
|align=center|3
|align=center|1
|align=center|2
|align=center|1
|align=center|3
|align=center|3
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!21
!7
!17
!2
!13
!5
!12
!12
|-
|}

==Legacy==
{{see also|List of accolades and awards received by Ingmar Bergman|The Dove (1968 film)}}
[[File:Popiersie Ingmar Bergman ssj 20110627.jpg|thumb|A bust of Bergman in Celebrity Alley in [[Kielce]], Poland]]

In 1996, ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' ranked Bergman at No. 8 in its "50 Greatest Directors" list.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|title=Greatest Film Directors and Their Best Films |publisher=[[Filmsite.org]] |url=http://www.filmsite.org/directors5.html |access-date=19 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419022028/http://www.filmsite.org/directors1.html|archive-date=19 April 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Greatest Film Directors|url=https://www.filmsite.org/directors.html|website=filmsite.org}}</ref>
In 2002, Bergman was listed at number nine on the [[British Film Institute]]'s ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' list of the top ten film directors of modern times.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/63 |title=Sight & Sound &#124; Modern Times |publisher=British Film Institute |date=25 January 2012 |access-date=9 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013200533/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/63 |archive-date=13 October 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[MovieMaker]] magazine ranked Bergman at No. 13 on their 2002 list of ''The 25 Most Influential Directors of All Time''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The 25 Most Influential Directors of All Time|url=https://www.moviemaker.com/25-most-influential-directors-of-all-time-scorsese-kubrick-welles/4/|website=MovieMaker|date=7 July 2002}}</ref>
Bergman was ranked at No. 36 on [[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]] magazine's "Top 40 Greatest Directors of All-Time" list in 2005.<ref name="auto" /> In 2007, ''[[Total Film]]'' magazine ranked Bergman at No. 7 on its "100 Greatest Film Directors Ever" list.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Greatest Directors Ever by ''Total Film'' Magazine |publisher=[[Filmsite.org]] |url=http://www.filmsite.org/greatdirectors-totalfilm2.html |access-date=19 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702113557/http://www.filmsite.org/greatdirectors-totalfilm.html|archive-date=2 July 2014 }}</ref>
In 2017, ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine ranked Bergman at number 55 on their list of ''The 100 Best Screenwriters of All Time''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The 100 Best Screenwriters of All Time|url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/10/100-greatest-screenwriters-of-all-time-ranked.html|website=vulture.com|date=27 October 2017}}</ref>

[[Stanley Kubrick]] admired the work of Bergman and expressed it in personal letter: "Your vision of life has moved me deeply, much more deeply than I have ever been moved by any films. I believe you are the greatest film-maker at work today [...], unsurpassed by anyone in the creation of mood and atmosphere, the subtlety of performance, the avoidance of the obvious, the truthfulness and completeness of characterization. To this one must also add everything else that goes into the making of a film; [...] and I shall look forward with eagerness to each of your films."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubrick letter |url=http://www.ingmarbergman.se/verk/kubrick-letter/media/22041 |url-status=live |website=ingmarbergman.se |language=sv |accessdate=20 August 2018 |archivedate=27 December 2020 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227043144/https://www.ingmarbergman.se/verk/kubrick-letter/media/22041}}</ref> Film critic [[Philip French]] referred to Bergman as "one of the greatest artists of the 20th century ... he found in literature and the performing arts a way of both recreating and questioning the [[human condition]]."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/aug/05/ingmarbergman.worldcinema|title=Twin visionaries of a darker art|author=French, Philip|newspaper=The Observer|date=5 August 2007|access-date=15 May 2017}}</ref> Director [[Martin Scorsese]] commented that "it's impossible to overestimate the effect that [his] films had on people."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://philosophyofscienceportal.blogspot.com/2010/05/film-maker-on-film-makermartin-scorsese.html|title=Philosophy of Science Portal: Film maker on film maker...Martin Scorsese on Ingmar Bergman|author=Mercury|date=9 May 2010|website=Philosophy of Science Portal|access-date=16 March 2019}}</ref> [[Terrence Rafferty]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote that throughout the 1960s, when Bergman "was considered pretty much the last word in cinematic profundity, his every tic was scrupulously pored over, analyzed, elaborated in ingenious arguments about identity, the nature of film, the fate of the artist in the modern world and so on."<ref>{{cite news|author=Rafferty, Terrence|title=FILM; On the Essential Strangeness of Bergman|newspaper=The New York Times|date=8 February 2004|page=13}}</ref>

Bergman's work was a point of reference and inspiration for director [[Woody Allen]]. He described Bergman as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera".<ref>{{cite web|title=The "greatest film-maker who ever lived"|url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170728-the-greatest-film-maker-who-ever-lived|publisher=BBC|date=31 July 2017}}</ref> Bergman's films are mentioned and praised in ''[[Annie Hall]]'' and other Allen films. Allen also admired Bergman's longtime director of photography [[Sven Nykvist]] and invited him to return as his DP on ''[[Crimes and Misdemeanors]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cinemascandinavia.wordpress.com/articles/issue-3-ingmar-bergman/bergmans-influence-on-woody-allen/|title=Bergman's Influence on Woody Allen|date=5 June 2014}}</ref> Danish Director [[Thomas Vinterberg]] has cited Bergman as one of his major influences, "Bergman is always in my head. He is part of my upbringing and I was fortunate to meet him and get advice from him."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vinterberg: "The Commune is about the loss of innocence and love"|url=https://www.nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/news/stories/vinterberg-commune-about-loss-innocence-and-love|access-date=23 September 2020|website=Nordisk Film & TV Fond|language=en}}</ref> Writer and director [[Richard Ayoade]] counts Bergman as one of his inspirations. In 2017, the [[British Film Institute]] (BFI) hosted an Ingmar Bergman season and Ayoade said in a ''[[The Guardian|Guardian]]'' interview that he saw everything in it, "which was one of the best two months ever."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/15/richard-ayoade-interview|title=Richard Ayoade: Meet Mr Modest|last=Petridis|first=Alexis|date=15 January 2011|work=The Guardian|access-date=28 November 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The BFI's programme included a discussion with Ayoade on Bergman's 1966 film, ''[[Persona (1966 film)|Persona]]'', before a screening.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-press-release-further-details-ingmar-bergman-centenary-celebrations-2017-11-28.pdf|title=BFI announces further details of Ingmar Bergman centenary celebrations|date=28 November 2017|publisher=British Film Institute|access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref>

[[Bertrand Tavernier]] said: "Bergman was the first to bring metaphysics{{snd}}religion, death, existentialism{{snd}}to the screen. But the best of Bergman is the way he speaks of women, of the relationship between men and women. He's like a miner digging in search of purity."<ref name="NYTObit">{{cite news| title=Ingmar Bergman, Master Filmmaker, Dies at 89| last=Rothstein| first=Mervyn| date=30 July 2007| work=[[The New York Times]]| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/movies/30cnd-bergman.html}}</ref>

After Bergman died, a large archive of notes was donated to the [[Swedish Film Institute]]. Among the notes are several unpublished and unfinished scripts both for stage and films, and many more ideas for works in different stages of development. A never-performed play has the title ''Kärlek utan älskare'' ("Love without lovers"), and has the note "Complete disaster!" written on the envelope; the play is about a director who disappears and an editor who tries to complete a work he has left unfinished. Other canceled projects include the script for a pornographic film which Bergman abandoned since he did not think it was alive enough, a play about a cannibal, some loose scenes set inside a womb, a film about the life of Jesus, a film about ''[[The Merry Widow]]'', and a play with the title ''Från sperm till spöke'' ("From sperm to spook").<ref name="ratadetexter">{{cite news|author=Jacobsson, Cecilia|date=28 May 2012|url=https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/scen/ingmar-bergmans-ratade-texter-blev-ny-pjas/|title=Ingmar Bergmans ratade texter blev ny pjäs|trans-title=Ingmar Bergman's rejected texts became new play|language=sv|work=[[Dagens Nyheter]]|access-date=2 October 2019}}</ref> The Swedish director Marcus Lindeen went through the material, and inspired by ''Kärlek utan älskare'' he took samples from many of the works and turned them into a play, titled ''[[Arkivet för orealiserbara drömmar och visioner]]'' ("The archive for unrealisable dreams and visions"). Lindeen's play premiered on 27 May 2012 at the [[Stockholm City Theatre]].<ref name="ratadetexter" />

In 2018, in honor of Bergman's 100th birthday, [[The Criterion Collection]] compiled and released a [[Blu-ray]] disc [[boxed set|box set]] comprising 39 of Bergman's features. The set spans Bergman's early career, beginning in the 1940s, up to his final film in 2003. The films are organized non-chronologically, and are instead presented in four groupings that mimic the procession of a film festival. Accompanying the discs is a book featuring critical essays on each of the films, intended to guide the viewer through the experience. Upon its release, ''[[The New York Times]]'' critic Glenn Kenny assessed the set as "impressive and almost exhaustive", and interpreted it as "a fresh case for [Bergman's] continuing importance", in response to criticisms such as [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]]'s 2007 opinion piece "Scenes From an Overrated Career".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/movies/ingmar-bergman-criterion-box-set.html |title=Viewing Ingmar Bergman Through a Glass Less Darkly |last=Kenny |first=Glenn |date=  20 November 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/opinion/04jrosenbaum.html?module=inline |title=Scenes From an Overrated Career |last=Rosenbaum |first=Jonathan |date=August 2007 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

The [[Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award]] is awarded annually at the [[Gothenburg Film Festival]], in partnership with the Ingmar Bergman Foundation, the Bergman Estate and the Bergman Center on Fårö. The prize includes a visit to the Bergman Estate as well as to Bergmans personal archive in Stockholm.<ref name="prizes2022">{{cite web | title=Here are the winners at Göteborg Film Festival 2022! | website=Göteborg Film Festival | date=5 February 2022 | url=https://goteborgfilmfestival.se/en/here-are-the-winners-at-goteborg-film-festival-2022/ | access-date=1 May 2022 | archive-date=21 May 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521124529/https://goteborgfilmfestival.se/en/here-are-the-winners-at-goteborg-film-festival-2022/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Cinema of Sweden]]
* [[List of film director and actor collaborations]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Bergman on Bergman: Interviews with Ingmar Bergman.'' By Stig Björkman, Torsten Manns, and Jonas Sima; translated by [[Paul Britten Austin]]. Simon & Schuster, New York. Swedish edition copyright 1970; English translation 1973.
* ''Filmmakers on filmmaking: the American Film Institute seminars on motion pictures and television'' (edited by Joseph McBride). Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1983.
* {{cite book|last=Bergman|first=Ingmar|title=Images: My Life in Film|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=012bcQAACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=Arcade Publishing|isbn=978-1-61145-041-5}}[https://archive.org/download/ImagesMyLifeInFilm/Images,%20My%20life%20in%20film.pdf PDF]
* {{cite book|title=Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|date=1 January 2005|isbn=9789053564066|last=Steene |first=Birgitta}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/TheMagicLantern-BiographyOfIngmarBergman The Magic Lantern]'', Ingmar Bergman. Translated by Joan Tate New York, Viking Press, 1988, {{ISBN|0-670-81911-5}}
* ''[http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=OrrDemons The Demons of Modernity: Ingmar Bergman and European Cinema]'', John Orr, [[Berghahn Books]], 2014.
* {{cite book|last=Gado|first=Frank|title=The Passion of Ingmar Bergman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=myqJ3XwjA1UC|year=1986|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-0586-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Gervais|first=Marc|title=Ingmar Bergman: Magician and Prophet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JbR_2spW0b4C|year=1999|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP|isbn=978-0-7735-2004-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Michaels|first=Lloyd|title=Ingmar Bergman's Persona|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CR8JsHbnkS0C|year=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-65698-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Shargel|first=Raphael|title=Ingmar Bergman: Interviews|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8mNh8b_PMkC|year=2007|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-57806-218-8}}
* Monica Guido (2025), '''[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FTWS9VH2 An investigation into Theatricality in the Work of Ingmar Bergman], {{ISBN|979-8-2683-6837-6 }}'''

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Ingmar Bergman}}
{{Commons}}
* [http://www.ingmarbergman.se/en Ingmar Bergman Foundation]
* {{IMDb name|5}}
* {{sfdb}}
* {{Tcmdb name}}
* [https://www.theguardian.com/film/ingmarbergman Ingmar Bergman], film on ''[[The Guardian]]''
* [https://www2.bfi.org.uk//ingmar-bergman Ingmar Bergman] on the [[British Film Institute]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060712233418/http://www.ingmarbergmanfoundation.com/ The Ingmar Bergman Foundation]
* [http://www.samlaren.org/bergman/ Ingmar Bergman all posters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019153533/http://www.samlaren.org/bergman/ |date=19 October 2020 }}
* [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jan/23/2 ''The Guardian''/NFT interview with Liv Ullmann by Shane Danielson, 23 January 2001]
* [http://www.bergmanveckan.se Bergman Week]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110715171049/http://www.regilexikon.com/ Regilexikon]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110710155447/http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/direct-chair/bergman.htm DVD Beaver's Director's Chair] on Bergman, with links to DVD and Blu-ray comparisons of his major films

'''Bibliographies'''
* [http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/bergman.html Ingmar Bergman Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)]
* [http://www.ingmarbergman.se Ingmar Bergman Site]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071013104537/http://upress-test.hpc.msstate.edu/catalog/spring2007/ingmar_bergman.html Collection of interviews with Bergman]

{{Ingmar Bergman}}
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{{Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film}}
{{BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award}}
{{Cannes Film Festival Best Director Award}}
{{DirectorsGuildofAmericaAwardLifetimeFilm}}
{{European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award}}
{{Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement}}
{{Guldbagge Award Best Director}}
{{Guldbagge Award Best Screenplay}}
{{Thalberg Award}}
{{National Board of Review Award for Best Director}}
{{National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director}}
{{National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay}}
{{Sonning Prize laureates}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergman, Ingmar}}
[[Category:Ingmar Bergman| ]]
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