View Full Version : TV serie of Ingmar Bergman's life
I have just read that the Swedish author, Henning Mankell is writing the manuscript for a Swedish TV series about Ingmar Bergman. The writing will begin 2010 and the filming 2011. It will be a series of 4, one hour each.
Thought I would share this great news!
Link to a danish newspaper:
Kendt forfatter bag tv-serie om Bergman | information.dk (http://www.information.dk/telegram/219394)
I have just read that the Swedish author, Henning Mankell is writing the manuscript for a Swedish TV series about Ingmar Bergman. The writing will begin 2010 and the filming 2011. It will be a series of 4, one hour each.
Thought I would share this great news!
Link to a danish newspaper:
Kendt forfatter bag tv-serie om Bergman | information.dk (http://www.information.dk/telegram/219394)
An act of piety, no doubt, as Bergman was his father-in-law. What scenes of mirth and jollity there must have been when Ingmar and Henning got together for a few jars on F?r?.
Harry
This is, indeed, a wonderful piece of news. As someone who loves Bergman, I simply can't get enough of the man... ;).
In fact, I'm trying to ration my "remaining" Bergman movies so that there will always be at least a couple that I know I haven't yet watched. (I've seen maybe about 30-35 at this point).
Any idea if the television series will be fictional or non-fictional? Like, in the vein of The Best Intentions/Private Confessions or the recent documentary, Bergman Island (http://www.criterion.com/films/556)?
I'm still waiting for a restored, fully subtitled DVD version of The Best Intentions to be released in this country. One of my favorite films, and one of Bille August's best, before he went "Hollywood."
The article does not say much, sorry!
Which film of Bille are you wanting to view? Pelle the conqueror with Max von Sydow? I have seen almost all of his films.
:eek: Holy Moly, Liam!
I have just checked how many films and plays, Ingmar made!
Ingmar Bergman filmography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingmar_Bergman_filmography)
I knew he had made many films etc., but not that many! When did he have time to sleep, eat, think and make all them babies of his???
And to my surprise I see, that I can actually borrow many of his films at the library. I used to see them on TV, back in them black/white days...but I cant remember much, so if I should go for one or two, which ones would you recommend? Persona? The Silence? A lesson in love?
(Fanny and Alexander I watched not long ago.)
Clarissa
22-Dec-2009, 08:08
The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Cries and Whispers - every film Bergman made was a masterpiece. An alltime great. A titan of a film director!!! As you can probably tell, I am an unconditional admirer.
The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Cries and Whispers - every film Bergman made was a masterpiece. An alltime great. A titan of a film director!!! As you can probably tell, I am an unconditional admirer.
In that case, as we are a mainly literary forum, I recommend that you read his autobiography The Magic Lantern, translated by Joan Tate (Hamish Hamilton and Penguin, 1988).
Harry
Clarissa
22-Dec-2009, 18:02
As Ingmar Bergman is such a favourite, I too read the autobiography. It was
a great read and gave unsuspected insights into the creative process. Were I a psychiatrist, he would have made a great patient.
Wellwritten and well translated (I too read it in English),well worth reading - especially if anyone is an admirer of Bergman, and even if they aren't!
Manuel76
22-Dec-2009, 20:44
And to my surprise I see, that I can actually borrow many of his films at the library. I used to see them on TV, back in them black/white days...but I cant remember much, so if I should go for one or two, which ones would you recommend? Persona? The Silence? A lesson in love?
(Fanny and Alexander I watched not long ago.)
Hello Flower,
I agree with Clarissa, I would start with Cries and whispers, one of his best films, with three of his best actresses and wonderful colors. And Fanny and Alexandre (well, it's christmas time).
Persona is perhaps his best film, it's great but not completely intelligible. Anyway it has some of his best cinema but you take a risk.
Then there is Wild Strawberries, very poetic and with Victor Sjostrom, and Ingrid Thulin in her most pleasant performance (she had that wonderful sweet and sad smile in this film!).
Other films I like a lot: Shame, The Silence (if you find this, it's one of his best), Hour of the Wolf, and Smiles of a summer night.
But I don't like that much The seventh Seal, above all because his images seem to me like very polished view for the middle ages, and it's a little pretentious (unlike most of his other great films). I was dissapointed too with The Virgin Spring. I found Saraband, his last film, very boring.
And I'd avoid All these women, his worst film (at least among those I saw).
Stewart
22-Dec-2009, 20:50
The only one I've watched is Winter Light, which I watched with the reading of Alexander Ahndoril's The Director, a novel that was set around Bergman's making of the film. I liked it, but I've only watched it once, and there's loads more in it than I would have seen or understood then.
I have a few more, including The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries.
As Ingmar Bergman is such a favourite, I too read the autobiography. It was
a great read and gave unsuspected insights into the creative process. Were I a psychiatrist, he would have made a great patient.
Wellwritten and well translated (I too read it in English),well worth reading - especially if anyone is an admirer of Bergman, and even if they aren't!
Joan Tate was a prolific translator from the Swedish, and unstinting with her time and suggestions when it came to helping tyro translators. I once wrote to her with a query and she phoned me at home and spoke for over an hour, on her phone-bill, with umpteen useful hints and comments. I wished I had been able to tape the conversation (more of a monologue, actually).
And I know she was a great help to James Anderson when he was starting out. Somebody recently reviewed a Norwegian novel he has translated, I've forgotten the details.
Harry
Speaking of Ingmar:
YouTube - Bergman Days (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XrAH9Z_Bjk)
:);):p
Enjoy,
L
It's important that Bergman is remembered for his films, not for his wives, his irascibility, his tax problems, and his sojourn on a remotish island beyond Gotland after running away to Germany and returning to Sweden.
I was amused to see that the Bergman fetishism brigade have already taken a firm grip on his legacy. Bergman wanted everything he owned auctioned off - i.e. spread to the winds - after he died. Yet some rich Norwegian (maybe on the instructions of daughter Linn Ullman) went against the spirit of this, and will probably turn F?r? into a sickly shrine with a few sticks of furniture, a grave, and other things that distract from the actual films and their seminal importance for serious film culture. Haworth, while interesting, is not the Bront?s; nor are those "Famous Writer Lived Here" homes and plaques any substitute for the books themselves.
I was amused to see that the Bergman fetishism brigade have already taken a firm grip on his legacy. Bergman wanted everything he owned auctioned off - i.e. spread to the winds - after he died. Yet some rich Norwegian (maybe on the instructions of daughter Linn Ullman) went against the spirit of this, and will probably turn F?r? into a sickly shrine with a few sticks of furniture, a grave, and other things that distract from the actual films and their seminal importance for serious film culture. Haworth, while interesting, is not the Bront?s; nor are those "Famous Writer Lived Here" homes and plaques any substitute for the books themselves.
True, but the instinct to "goon on pylgrymages" is very strong, no doubt even antedating Christianity. I don't think landscape and place were very important in Bergman's case, but you would probably understand the Bront? sisters better after visiting Haworth, and Wordsworth after visiting the Lake District. Read the opening of The Prelude if you don't believe me. To give you some idea of the teenage nerd I used to be, that was the only book I took with me on a school trip to Denmark when I was about 16/17.
Incidentally, has any permanent damage been done to Wordsworth's old family home in Cockermouth? I believe it was flooded along with many other houses in the town in the recent inundation. My wife's uncle was headteacher for many years at the little primary school in Grasmere, near Wordsworth's cottage.
Harry
I have managed to get hold of "Through a glass darkly" and am on the waiting list for "Persona" + "The magician/The face". Then I will see when I can get more from the library.
Will be great to watch this old black/white movie! :)
apparently it won the Academy for best foreign language film back in the 1960ties.
Manuel76
30-Dec-2009, 12:06
I don't think landscape and place were very important in Bergman's case, but you would probably understand the Bront? sisters better after visiting Haworth, and Wordsworth after visiting the Lake District. Read the opening of The Prelude if you don't believe me.
Harry
Well, I'm not sure but perhaps it's less important to know about those landscapes and places with filmakers (because you see everything in the film) but with most writers it can be interesting.
I have now watched "Through a glass darkly" + "Persona" and I was send straight back to my childhood seeing Max von Sydow, Bibi Anderson and Liv Ullmann in black/white and so young! :)
The films are very different but still its the Bergman style. I must admit I was more taken by "Through a glass darkly" than "Persona". Even though "Persona" is in a lead of its own.
While watching I was wondering how people outside of Scandinavia see them? I could sort of understand why the understanding of us being very sexual free and yet gloomy could appear, as the first film has a dirty magazine it in and without making it about shame and both films are deep and somewhat gloomy.
To me, being a Dane, the actors seems like old friends as I have been growing up with Swedish television and going to Sweden a lot. Living in Copenhagen which is very close to Sweden, and only having Danish and Swedish television in my childhood, its felt like both countries were mine and our languages are very similar, kinda like English and Scottish. So to me the films does not seem gloomy, dirty or heavy...maybe its because I sense the many nuances in moods portraited and its very familiar to me. I have however thought about the short distance between quite a few "heavy thinkers", you have the Danish S?ren Saabye Kierkegaard, The Swedish Ingmar Bergman and then just across the small sea, in Sct. Peterburg (Russia), you have Dostojevski. Up north in Norway you have Knut Hamsun and Edward Munch. Just to mention a few. Guess it comes with the territory....and I cannot picture Lars von Trier being anything than a Dane somehow!
To me, being a Dane, the actors seems like old friends as I have been growing up with Swedish television and going to Sweden a lot. Living in Copenhagen which is very close to Sweden, and only having Danish and Swedish television in my childhood, its felt like both countries were mine and our languages are very similar, kinda like English and Scottish.
I've read that, in the early days of television in Sweden, a Danish film was shown without subtitles, and there was such a storm of protest from Swedes who said they couldn't understand it that, ever since, Danish films have been subtitled on Swedish TV. Bj?rn can perhaps correct me if I'm wrong. During my two years in Sweden (1970-72) I didn't have a TV set, so couldn't check for myself.
I certainly think that Swedes in the deep south of Sweden (Sk?ne) will at least find the pronunciation of Danish easier than Swedes from further north. For anyone who doesn't know Scandinavian history, the southern part of Sweden belonged to Denmark until 1660 (?), and the local dialects still sound like Danish, with the uvular r (like French) and the diphthongisation of vowels, so that e.g. bok (book) sounds like bouk.
Bille August's 1987 film Pelle erobreren (Pelle the Conqueror), based on the novel by Danish writer Martin Andersen Nex?, was pretty bleak but had some linguistic jokes. A Swedish farm labourer (Max von Sydow) goes to the Danish island of ?land to seek work after his wife dies, taking their little boy, and before long the boy - to his father's disgust - is talking Danish as fluently as anyone else. The boy actor was actually Danish, so the bit of Swedish he valiantly came up with in the early stages was learned. Once his father has yelled at him, "For God's sake, have you forgotten your native language?" the boy is allowed to speak nothing but Danish, which must have come as a relief. But the local boy he makes friends with has an absolutely unpronounceable name, and the director has a bit of fun with that.
Harry
Harry,
It is actually harder to understand a Swede from Sk?ne than to understand someone from Stockholm, like Bjorn! Its due to them having a heavy dialect which no where sounds anything like Danish. Danes find it easier to understand Swedes than Swedes Danes in general. Strange but true!
And by the way, the island in Bille August's film is Bornholm. Its a Danish island underneath Sweden.
I have no idea about the subtitles, Bjorn has to answer that question. And I cannot remember if we had Danish subtitles on Swedish films etc., when I was a child. All I remember was all the kids singing the Pippi Longstocking title song from the tv series + other Swedish songs, in Swedish!
Norweigan is another story. I think its Ny-Norsk which is hard to understand and the ordinary Norweigan I can understand, if they dont have a strong dialect. The language in Finland is very strange, I havent got a clue what they are saying!
beelzebubbles
02-Jan-2010, 22:39
Thank you for this Liam. It had me howling.
I've read that, in the early days of television in Sweden, a Danish film was shown without subtitles, and there was such a storm of protest from Swedes who said they couldn't understand it that, ever since, Danish films have been subtitled on Swedish TV. Bj?rn can perhaps correct me if I'm wrong.
Early days? Even today, you could never show a Danish film, TV series, or even interview on the news in Sweden without subtitles (unless they're trying their damnedest to speak "Scandinavian", and usually not even then). A lot of Swedes are convinced that they don't understand Danish - not even written Danish - and so they don't. Sad but true. Though in fairness, it is tricky when you're not used to it; when I'm in Denmark, it usually takes me a day or two to get into it. Also, let's be honest, Lone; the Danish number system is pretty messed up. ;)
ETA: When we got our first commercial TV channel - TV3 - it was initially a pan-Scandinavian channel, and several shows were hosted by a Dane, a Swede and a Norwegian, each speaking their own language. They ditched that idea pretty soon since the viewers didn't understand half of what was said.
Harry,
And by the way, the island in Bille August's film is Bornholm. Its a Danish island underneath Sweden.
Yes, of course it was Bornholm, thank you for correcting me, I don't know what made me say ?land, which is Swedish.
Incidentally, I have heard that Bornholm is about the only part of Denmark where the local dialect doesn't have the famous Danish st?d or glottal stop.
Harry
Thank you for this Liam. It had me howling.Me too, and I'm a Bergman fan!
My favorite line:
No wonder the suicide rate is so high in Sweden.
LOL. That's classic.
Also, let's be honest, Lone; the Danish number system is pretty messed up. ;)
you think so, Bj?rn? :p
I find the number 7 to be the hardest word to pronouce in the Swedish language.
Yes, of course it was Bornholm, thank you for correcting me, I don't know what made me say ?land, which is Swedish.
Incidentally, I have heard that Bornholm is about the only part of Denmark where the local dialect doesn't have the famous Danish st?d or glottal stop.
Harry
Yes the people on Bornholms speaks quite differently than other Danes. We call them our reserve Swedes.
But also on Fyn, they tend to "sing" more.
I find the number 7 to be the hardest word to pronouce in the Swedish language.What's the Swedish word for seven?
"Sju". Pronounced roughly like a Scot would pronounce "shoo". Nothing weird about that. The Danes, however, cannot count at all. They count in twenties, not tens, which means that they call "fifty" "half threes" (two and half times 20). "Sixty" is "Threes", "Seventy" is "Half fours", etc. Insane, I tell you. Insane. :p
"Sju". Pronounced roughly like a Scot would pronounce "shoo". Nothing weird about that. The Danes, however, cannot count at all. They count in twenties, not tens, which means that they call "fifty" "half threes" (two and half times 20). "Sixty" is "Threes", "Seventy" is "Half fours", etc. Insane, I tell you. Insane. :p
The Scots pronunciation of "shoo" is "shoo". I can't think of any English or Scots dialect that has a sound remotely resembling Swedish s(k)j-. It can only be learned and imitated by living in Sweden and hearing and using the sound daily. Eventually you find yourself saying it automatically.
Or, of course, one can always imitate the posh old ladies of ?stermalm (Stockholm's Kensington) by pronouncing it as a sh-.
Swedish-speakers in Finland can't say it either.
I agree about the nuttiness of Danish numbers. I can read Danish fairly well, but when numbers are mentioned I have to resort to my dictionary.
Harry
Well, I said roughly. No two Swedish dialects pronounce sj- the same anyway. I would have thought the tricky bit would be the -u, hence the Scot. :)
Well, I said roughly. No two Swedish dialects pronounce sj- the same anyway. I would have thought the tricky bit would be the -u, hence the Scot. :)
I see what you mean. The pronunciation of vowels and diphthongs is very varied all over the UK. When I went to university in Edinburgh in 1964 I started going to local football matches, and was always amused by the reading of the lucky programme numbers over the tannoy at half-time, as every "two" was rendered as "t?" in the working-class Edinburgh dialect, very different from my own in Fife only a few miles away.
Over the last few days I have twice heard the word "dour" uttered by different speakers on BBC Radio Four. The second time it was used of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and it's an epithet often thrown at him by English commentators who just don't get this Scottish politician. It means, roughly, sour, unsmiling, unsociable, and comes from the French dur.
They can call him what they want as far as I'm concerned, but I wish they would pronounce it properly, as in "poor". Instead, they invariably say "dower", as in "shower", which makes me grit my teeth. I mentioned this to my wife, my major consultant on all things English, and she said she finds it hard herself to say "dour" rather than "dower". The problem is that English-speakers south of a line drawn across the Midlands diphthongised long -oo- to -ow- in the Great Vowel Shift of the late 15th century, and that tendency still runs deep in the English mouth.
While I'm ranting and raving about pronunciation, presenters on Radio Four - who tend to be southern English and middle-class - are currently doing my head in with their pronunciation of "book" as "behk" and "food" as "feed". The -oo- sound in all its long and short varieties seems to be incredibly unstable in contemporary RP (Received Pronunciation; basically, Southern Standard English).
And while I'm ranting and raving and inveighing against the BBC, Ukraine seems to be back in the news again, which means that their Russian "expert" Brian Hanrahan is called on to comment on events there. So we hear about President "Yooshenko" (Yushchenko) and Mr. "Pyootin".
With the noble exception of Arabic-speaker Frank Gardner, it seems to be a prerequisite for BBC foreign correspondents that they can't speak a word of the language in the countries they are "experts" on.
Phew, that feels better. Now to finish my breakfast.
Harry
To me, the rather upmarket Sweden-Swedish versus of "sju" sounds like "chw??", with a German "ch", an English "w" and a long German "?". But that ain't how they pronounce it throughout the Swedish-speaking world, in the same way that "r"s appear and disappear between American and British English (in "port", "dart", etc.), and even within Britain, an "a" can be long or short (in "bath", "path", and certain other words).
I would pronounce "doo-er" an "moo-erning" (To avoid: "Mourning, squire?" "No, just ruminating".), but say "hoar" for a naughty lady, rather than "hoo-er". The Northern English mix some Scots in with some Southern English pronunciations.
Who among us says "rum" for "room", i.e. with a short "oo""?
As for "Putin", his name is nearer to "poo-chin" than "pyoo-tin" because the tea is soft, not the pee.
"Ever heard of "ING-marr BERRY-man"?
"You mean "ING-mah B?G-m?nn"?
"Goodness, didn't know he was gay."
(A joke for those who know Swedish and umlauts.)
(A joke for those who know Swedish and umlauts.)
Or Uml?ute.
Harry
"Sju". Pronounced roughly like a Scot would pronounce "shoo". Nothing weird about that. The Danes, however, cannot count at all. They count in twenties, not tens, which means that they call "fifty" "half threes" (two and half times 20). "Sixty" is "Threes", "Seventy" is "Half fours", etc. Insane, I tell you. Insane. :p
I find that if you try and pronouce 7 in the way the people in Sk?ne/the south of Sweden say it, then you have to move your tongue in a strange way... to me it sounds something like "Hsjuu..v"
Complain about the Danish number system but then try the French, they are like us.
:p
Complain about the Danish number system but then try the French, they are like us.
:p
Oh, well, if the French do it, obviously it makes sense.
...I'm going to stop right there. :o
If you were to write "Sk?i??oone" with some measure of phoneticism. a lot of vowels would have to be depicted.
And a "backwards" way of counting is not only used in Denmark but in Germany, the Netherlands, Flanders, etc. They may not go in for "two score", "half-three-score" and "four score", but even we Brits say "four-and-twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie".
The French-speakers of Switzerland and Belgium have invented sensible words, such as "septante", "octante", and "nonante". Time for Paris to follow suit, so that the "Quatre-Vingt Magots" pub and disco becomes the "Octante Vermisseaux".
I have just read that Susanne Bier is going to direct the Bergman tv series! She is danish and has made great films! :)
Well, I said roughly. No two Swedish dialects pronounce sj- the same anyway. I would have thought the tricky bit would be the -u, hence the Scot. :)
The Icelanders, that famous banking nation, can't pronounce English sh- and ch-. I remember my teacher of Old Norse at university, who was an Icelander, pronouncing words like "shut" and "church" as "s-yut" and "ty-ur-ty" with consonantal y.
And their pronunciation of "sj?" (seven) is a delightful "s-y????". It sounds like a very posh Swede saying the Swedish word for "sea".
Harry
What a strange name: Bier. Whilst it is quite legit in German and Dutch for drink, it is a bit of a funereal name in English. So she's Danish. Why haven't the Swedes leapt at the chance of lauding the man the Swedish tax authorities arrested in his loge?
Here you can see the films she has directed so far:
Susanne Bier (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0081540/)
You might have seen one or two of her films allready! :)
Why haven't the Swedes leapt at the chance of lauding the man the Swedish tax authorities arrested in his loge?
Of course it wouldn't be the first time that this happens. The Best Intentions (1992), scripted by Bergman himself and based on the early lives of his parents, was directed by Bille August, a Dane, with Pernilla August in the lead role. The film is in Swedish, naturally, and turned out to be quite a beautiful piece of art.
That said, I sincerely do not believe that Susanne Bier's particular style of filmmaking is well-suited to a would-be Bergman biopic. She's a very good director, make no mistake, but I find her vision muddled. And Bergman strove for clarity and precision in most of his work, esp. in his later films (minus Fanny & Alexander).
Anyway, I guess we'll be able to judge later, after the series is actually released--
Henning Mankell? Is it April already?
I kinda like Susanne Bier, but I agree with you, she is not the best choice. If I was to choose a Danish director, then Thomas Vinterberg would be my choice. I believe you have heard of him?
Right now he is showing his latest movie in Berlin called "Submarino" and apparently with great success!
Go google him, Liam! Thomas is rather attractive and I reckon you would like his blond hair and blue eyes. And he is cute in real life, I bumped into him in the streets about a year ago. :p
Thomas is rather attractive and I reckon you would like his blond hair and blue eyes.
He is, of course, very attractive (for a filmmaker, esp. in comparison with Michael Moore):
http://images.starlounge.com/msndk/runtimeimages/big-4x3/2037c39e-069b-351b-7cbb6639f82b9418.jpg
I thought you might like him. He makes great films too! His latest film "Submariono" has been sold to 10 countries in 2 days at the Berlin Film Festival.
Major Tom
27-Feb-2010, 16:42
Granted, I have only read Mankell's Wallander series but I am a little wary about his writing abilities on a project like this.
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