Fanny and Alexander“If we shadows have offended,/Think but this, and all is mended,/That you have but slumbered here/While these visions did appear." This closing quote from William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" leaps to mind upon finishing Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, what was to be his swansong, the closing passage of an illustrious filmmaking career. Bergman's tale is--like the Bard--one of fantasy, of loss, a story filled with tragedy and comedy, with soliloquies and brooding, of ribald romance with the maid, of toxic conflict between a menacing stepfather and his taciturn stepson...a bold self-comparison by Bergman, but genuine nevertheless.
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The story of Fanny and Alexander is rich and full, like the Ekdahl family it portrays, an affluent household in very early Twentieth Century Sweden, although the majority of the tale deals with the young Alexander (Bertil Guve). Alexander is--like much of his family--enchanted by the theater, by the imagination and the fantasy which comes with it. He is a gifted storyteller and actor for his age, as befits his pedigree. His grandmother, father, and mother are all actors, and he has been blessed not only by their love, but also the wealth of toys to spur his imagination and talents. It might be that Alexander's imagination is too powerful, and some of what we see might force us to ask if what Alexander is seeing is real or just part of his hyperactive mind, like animated statues, or even phantoms lurking in the sunlight. This becomes further suspect when it is considered that Alexander is also a capable liar, with a track record for dishonesty. When he is confronted by the stern Bishop Edvard Vergérus (Jan Malmsjö)--who becomes his stepfather in the wake of his own father's passing--about why one lies, Alexander replies slyly at first that it is because, "one doesn't wish to tell the truth". This proves to be more likely the case then the second answer he gives to appease Vergérus, since he is already learning to say what will avoid further inconvenience, admonishment, or even pain, but also that Alexander does retreat into his fantasy to avoid the world he does not want, crafting a world with his lies--his plays--which are better than the real thing. But even here it would be too easy to strictly accuse Alexander of being nothing but a clever liar, considering a story he shares with one of the servants attending him while he and his sister, Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) are locked in their austere, new home. Did Alexander actually see the ghosts of Vergérus' dead wife and daughters? When the servant reveals to Vergérus of Alexander's story--and he is in private--his reaction of shock is more severe than one might expect from a man who had heard an exaggerated--if hurtful--story. Did Vergérus' harsh asceticism lead them to their dooms? Maybe...maybe not, but he continues to wear the mask of the stern, "tough love" father when he confronts Alexander. Their tension is one of the most satisfying conflicts in the film--a domineering cleric claiming to exercise fatherly love as he combats the sullen youth, resentful of his forced abandonment of his former life for the cold, unfeeling imprisonment of his new one. (It is no coincidence that the shirt Alexander wears bears stripes like a prisoner's uniform.) But were we to give Vergérus the benefit of the doubt, it might be just as easy that he simply fails to understand Alexander's needs, putting his concept of righteous parenting above all; he is a perfectionist and image-obsessed bully, perhaps, but not necessarily the monster Alexander believes him to be. Often, Vergérus attempts persuasion as his first line of attack...pity that Alexander has no interest in being persuaded to abandon his own passions for someone else's--but this clash of personalities makes their battle more than simply a case of hero versus villain, of "Hamlet versus Claudius".
Speaking of "Hamlet", Fanny and Alexander is influenced by the works of Shakespeare, most visibly the tale of the Prince of Denmark. The more obvious parallels occur when Alexander's own father, Oscar (Allan Edwall)--dressed as the ghost of Hamlet (the elder)--delivers his cautionary speech to Hamlet about Claudius...and then shows up later as a ghost to stand sentinel over Alexander at times. Alexander's mother, Emelie (Ewa Fröling) goes so far as to make this comparison directly, when she comments that "she is not Gertrude, and Edvard is not 'the King of Denmark'". But aside from simply reimagining "Hamlet" for turn of the century Sweden, Fanny and Alexander showcase several other characters and members of the Ekdahl family around the holidays, on vacation, and their romances with others. Some noteworthy "shadows" recalling Shakespeare's works include Alexander's uncle Gustav Adolf (Jarl Kulle), a "Falstaff"-esque bon vivant, who openly lusts after the maid Maj (Pernilla August), and is prone to lengthy monologues, without saying a good deal at all. Another comparison--but here, it is something of a subversion and amalgamation of two characters--is Isak Jacobi (Erland Josephson), the romantic interest of the Ekdahl matriarch, Helena (Gunn Wållgren). Isak is recognized as a Jewish moneylender, and is despised by Vergérus for reasons one might suspect; in this, he is perceived as a simulacrum of Shylock, the antagonist of "The Merchant of Venice". However, while crafty, Isak is good-hearted, and magically whisks away Fanny and Alexander from their stepfather's gulag of austerity, and bringing them into a world of color and imagination yet again, filled with wondrous surroundings. In this, Isak--and his somewhat eccentric companions--shares more in common with Prospero of "The Tempest"...both wizards, if that is any kind of explanation as to the puzzling scene immediately following Isak's ease with which he absconds with the children under Vergérus' nose. Even the very structure of the story itself has much in common with the plays of William Shakespeare, often focusing on varying plots, but all involving characters which have some kind of tangential relationship to the entertainment as a whole; in this, the film recalls "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Added to this recipe is Bergman's own intentionally self-referential elements, hearkening back to other cinematic works of his. For instance, Helena comments to Isak that he reminds her of "strawberries", a commonly appearing stand-in for memory in Bergman's works, like The Seventh Seal and especially the title of his Wild Strawberries. Also, when Emelie and Edvard confront one another, and Edvard brings up that she said to him that she "wears many masks", whereas he has "only one...branded to him", this of course evokes Persona, not only in name, but because for much of the film, Vergérus was the dominant personality, unbending and unrelenting; although Emelie never quite comes across as meek, it is only when she takes action to finally overthrow Vergérus' dominance of her and her life that she can reclaim her independence from him in total, like how the two women of Persona seemed to be battling over command of personality. Alex's tale is a struggle--just as growing up is a struggle--but this sentiment is echoed in the maxim emblazoned upon his toy stage at the onset of the film: "not for pleasure alone". Life is a challenge, but we live through it all the same. As is expressed by Oscar in his speech at Christmas to his fellow actors, "sometimes the small world [of the theater] reflects the big one outside". This spirit of finding the truth of the human condition in the artistry of film is also at the core of Fanny and Alexander, just as it is for the beloved filmmaker who gifted this and other great works to us, challenging us to ask these questions of ourselves in our lives.
Recommended for: Fans of a story of a family challenged by the obstacles that confront them, both great and small, and how they survive and grow stronger in their wake. A deep, moving tale of adolescence and love, and most of all, the power of dreams and imagination.
Speaking of "Hamlet", Fanny and Alexander is influenced by the works of Shakespeare, most visibly the tale of the Prince of Denmark. The more obvious parallels occur when Alexander's own father, Oscar (Allan Edwall)--dressed as the ghost of Hamlet (the elder)--delivers his cautionary speech to Hamlet about Claudius...and then shows up later as a ghost to stand sentinel over Alexander at times. Alexander's mother, Emelie (Ewa Fröling) goes so far as to make this comparison directly, when she comments that "she is not Gertrude, and Edvard is not 'the King of Denmark'". But aside from simply reimagining "Hamlet" for turn of the century Sweden, Fanny and Alexander showcase several other characters and members of the Ekdahl family around the holidays, on vacation, and their romances with others. Some noteworthy "shadows" recalling Shakespeare's works include Alexander's uncle Gustav Adolf (Jarl Kulle), a "Falstaff"-esque bon vivant, who openly lusts after the maid Maj (Pernilla August), and is prone to lengthy monologues, without saying a good deal at all. Another comparison--but here, it is something of a subversion and amalgamation of two characters--is Isak Jacobi (Erland Josephson), the romantic interest of the Ekdahl matriarch, Helena (Gunn Wållgren). Isak is recognized as a Jewish moneylender, and is despised by Vergérus for reasons one might suspect; in this, he is perceived as a simulacrum of Shylock, the antagonist of "The Merchant of Venice". However, while crafty, Isak is good-hearted, and magically whisks away Fanny and Alexander from their stepfather's gulag of austerity, and bringing them into a world of color and imagination yet again, filled with wondrous surroundings. In this, Isak--and his somewhat eccentric companions--shares more in common with Prospero of "The Tempest"...both wizards, if that is any kind of explanation as to the puzzling scene immediately following Isak's ease with which he absconds with the children under Vergérus' nose. Even the very structure of the story itself has much in common with the plays of William Shakespeare, often focusing on varying plots, but all involving characters which have some kind of tangential relationship to the entertainment as a whole; in this, the film recalls "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Added to this recipe is Bergman's own intentionally self-referential elements, hearkening back to other cinematic works of his. For instance, Helena comments to Isak that he reminds her of "strawberries", a commonly appearing stand-in for memory in Bergman's works, like The Seventh Seal and especially the title of his Wild Strawberries. Also, when Emelie and Edvard confront one another, and Edvard brings up that she said to him that she "wears many masks", whereas he has "only one...branded to him", this of course evokes Persona, not only in name, but because for much of the film, Vergérus was the dominant personality, unbending and unrelenting; although Emelie never quite comes across as meek, it is only when she takes action to finally overthrow Vergérus' dominance of her and her life that she can reclaim her independence from him in total, like how the two women of Persona seemed to be battling over command of personality. Alex's tale is a struggle--just as growing up is a struggle--but this sentiment is echoed in the maxim emblazoned upon his toy stage at the onset of the film: "not for pleasure alone". Life is a challenge, but we live through it all the same. As is expressed by Oscar in his speech at Christmas to his fellow actors, "sometimes the small world [of the theater] reflects the big one outside". This spirit of finding the truth of the human condition in the artistry of film is also at the core of Fanny and Alexander, just as it is for the beloved filmmaker who gifted this and other great works to us, challenging us to ask these questions of ourselves in our lives.
Recommended for: Fans of a story of a family challenged by the obstacles that confront them, both great and small, and how they survive and grow stronger in their wake. A deep, moving tale of adolescence and love, and most of all, the power of dreams and imagination.