SYNOPSES, CREDITS, COMMENTARIES AND RECEPTION RECORD

The Filmography Chapter lists in chronological order all screen works that were scripted and/or directed by Ingmar Bergman. Each film entry comprises a plot synopsis, credits, notes, critical commentaries, a reception summary, and reviews. The credits include major crew members and a complete cast list. Names of Swedish cinemas where a film first opened are usually limited to one or two samples. Commentaries for those Bergman scripts that have been filmed by other directors tend to be less extensive, unless the Bergman script became the subject of a media debate.

The title heading used in each entry is the Swedish distribution title, followed by its year of release and, in brackets, by its English title. In the rest of the entry, only the original distribution title is used, except in direct quotes where the refereed title appears. At the end of the Filmography is a selective list of foreign distribution titles. Foreign titles of Ingmar Bergman’s early films were often the invention of distributors looking for a way to cash in on the reputation of the Swedish cinema as a producer of sexually titillating films. Title explanations are included before the synopsis of the film narrative when the foreign distribution title departs radically from the original or when the Swedish title, though translated literally, carries connotations not conveyed in English.

A special organizational problem involves Bergman works that were originally conceived for television but have also circulated (abroad) as commercial feature films and then often in a specially edited, abridged version. As a rule, the original television version has been seen by a Swedish or Scandinavian audience only, while the version adapted for cinema viewers has had an international circulation but a limited or no movie house showing in Bergman’s own country.

In an interview Bergman once commented on making parallel cinema and TV versions of the same work (see preface, p. 19). However, his statement only applies to works that were designed from the start to circulate in two different versions, i.e., films like Scener från ett äktenskap/Scenes from a Marriage, Ansikte mot ansikte/Face to Face, and Fanny and Alexander. But the fact is that in several cases, a Bergman film made only for television was also sold as a movie house product – despite Bergman’s protest.