This fascinating and unflinching study of the brilliance of Ingmar Bergman’s extraordinary career, is crafted around one of his most prolific and creatively fruitful years
Jane Magnusson's documentary centres on 1957, a turbulent but miraculously productive year when Ingmar Bergman, besides unveiling The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries and working extensively in theatre and TV, led a messily complicated domestic life. This is the springboard for a survey that spirals out to embrace everything from childhood to old age, touching on his many creative achievements, his strengths and failings as a man, and the way his art derived from his life.
This release includes both the theatrical version of the film and the expanded, four-hour edition made for Swedish TV, in which further illuminating anecdotes are offered by many who knew him perhaps none, however, quite as revealing as Bergman's own testimony
Extras
Bergman: A Year in a Life Q&A (2019, 17 mins): Jane Magnusson in conversation with Geoff Andrew. Recorded at BFI Southbank in 2019
Ingmar Bergman Guardian Interview (1982, 62 mins, audio only): Bergman pays tribute to theatre and film director Alf Sjöberg, discussing his influence and impact on his own career. Recorded at the NFT in 1982
Vox Lipoma (2018, 11 mins): satirical animation about Ingmar Bergman’s power, sexuality and relationships
UK theatrical trailer (2019)
Illustrated booklet with new writing by Jane Magnusson and Geoff Andrew, plus full film credits