This is, without a doubt, the single most perfect film ever made. No other film has ever left me feeling as fulfilled as Fanny and Alexander. It unfolds like a rich novel, full of multi-dimensional characters, and takes the viewer on a journey of discovery -- of love, loss, laughter, despair, God, truth, and the supernatural.
This film is haunting and beautiful, more finely detailed, photographed and acted than any film I have ever seen.
These were my thoughts upon seeing the 3-hour theatrical version for the first (and second, and third...) time in the mid-'80s. I was so enthralled by this movie that I was hesitant to see the recent Criterion release of the full 5-hour-plus version originally filmed for Swedish television. I was worried I would be disappointed or that my all-time favourite film would somehow be diminished.
I could not have been more wrong. The full 312-minute version of Fanny and Alexander is even more rich, more haunting, more compelling, more insightful and more emotionally impactful than the theatrical version. It is more novelesque, and treats the viewer to the most multi-dimensional characters ever put to film, and with some of the best performances ever captured. It is a great work of film art and storytelling, with intricacies never realized before or since, made with incredible love and determination by the two most talented filmmakers ever to treat us with their skills -- Ingmar Bergman and Sven Nykvist.
THE masterpiece.
This film is haunting and beautiful, more finely detailed, photographed and acted than any film I have ever seen.
These were my thoughts upon seeing the 3-hour theatrical version for the first (and second, and third...) time in the mid-'80s. I was so enthralled by this movie that I was hesitant to see the recent Criterion release of the full 5-hour-plus version originally filmed for Swedish television. I was worried I would be disappointed or that my all-time favourite film would somehow be diminished.
I could not have been more wrong. The full 312-minute version of Fanny and Alexander is even more rich, more haunting, more compelling, more insightful and more emotionally impactful than the theatrical version. It is more novelesque, and treats the viewer to the most multi-dimensional characters ever put to film, and with some of the best performances ever captured. It is a great work of film art and storytelling, with intricacies never realized before or since, made with incredible love and determination by the two most talented filmmakers ever to treat us with their skills -- Ingmar Bergman and Sven Nykvist.
THE masterpiece.