I was saddened today to hear that we have lost the great filmmaker, Ingmar Bergman. A friend sent me an email this morning with the subject line that read “Death has won the chess match…” My friend knows that Bergman’s film, “The Seventh Seal,” is one of my all-time favorites. As a young stay-at-home mother, many years ago, my husband encouraged me to take some evening classes at the university. The first one I signed up for was a film class on “The Women in Bergman’s Films.” We watched a different film each week, and then discussed it. The instructor was a wonderful professor of film studies, so the discussions were amazing, and focused primarily on the way Bergman portrayed women in his films. I developed a lifelong love and appreciation for this brilliant filmmaker, so I am sad to bid him adieu.
A Fondness For Reading 
Very sad. 😦 That sounds like a fascinating class!
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In a way, he’ll live on through his films.
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Heather, it really was fascinating to see all those films, and discuss the ideas and techniques that went into making them. I was fortunate enough to be able to take a second class, which was on Japanese film. That was amazing, too.
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Hi Dewey, yes, he’ll definitely live on through his films. They are timeless in many ways. It would be great to see many of them again on the big screen. I hope there will be some film festival releases, or something like that, so that a whole new generation of film buffs can learn to appreciate his artistry.
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I took a completely different kind of film class in college, but yours sounds fascinating. I like Dewey’s comment.
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Sad news 😦
That really sounds like a very interesting class.
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I’m sad to bid him adieu, too! I think my husband and I will rent some of his films this weekend…
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Bookfool and Nymeth, I really enjoyed the film classes. They weren’t for credit or anything, because I wasn’t an official student at that point, but they were some of the best college courses I ever took.
Gentle Reader, I think we’ll be doing the same thing. I actually had Wild Strawberries already on our queue. Now I’ll add some others. We own The Seventh Seal, so we’ll definitely watch that one first.
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What a nice husband and what a good class! I had just mentioned Bergman and Antonioni on my blog the other day, and they died within a day of one another.
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I would have loved to take such a class! My film knowledge is not what it should be. However, I am sad to read he’s gone as well. Isn’t there a lovely daughter (Isabella Rosellini) of his still living? If it’s the same one I’m thinking of she modeled for the Lancome advertisements, and she’s so very beautiful.
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Oh Nan, I hadn’t heard the news about Antonioni. Thanks for letting me know that he, too, is gone.
You mentioned in your post last week that we all used to flock to see the films of Bergman, Antonioni and Fellini. So true! So much of the creativity and artistry of those old films is timeless.,..and the stories really made you think. I don’t want to compare them to the films of today, because it’s a different time and place now. But there are some real treasures in the works of all three of those men!
Bellezza, the beautiful Isabella Rossellini is the daughter of another wonderfully talented Swede–Ingrid Bergman–but isn’t related to Ingmar Bergman. This is huge loss and I’m sure all of Sweden is in mourning this week.
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