Fanny and Alexander
Short description
In the early 1900s, the Ekdahl family of Uppsala is bound together by the theatre run by Oscar and Emilie, parents of young Fanny and Alexander. Their childhood is comfortable and imaginative, full of celebrations and the company of relatives. When Oscar dies suddenly, Emilie remarries Edvard Vergerus, a bishop whose strict, punishing household replaces everything the children knew, and the two siblings respond to the change in different ways. Aided by members of their family, they seek a way out of the bishop's control.
Ingmar Bergman directed and wrote the film, the twenty-second of the twenty-four he directed, between Autumn Sonata and After the Rehearsal. Pernilla Allwin and Bertil Guve play the title siblings, with Jan Malmsjö as the bishop, Ewa Fröling as Emilie and Gunn Wållgren as Helena Ekdahl, among an ensemble of fifty-two credited performers.
Produced by Daniel Toscan du Plantier and Jörn Donner, the film was a Swedish, French and German co-production made for about six million dollars, and its worldwide returns were close to seven million. Its critical standing is high, with a critics' rating of nine out of ten from forty-five reviews, while audiences on TMDB give it 7.8 out of ten from more than nine hundred votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- The television series has a runtime of 312 minutes.
- Max von Sydow was considered for the role of Bishop Edvard Vergerus, but the actor was busy with other projects at the time.
- On December 17, 1983, the director's cut of the film was released in Sweden.
- Ingmar Bergman shot approximately 24 hours of footage for this film.
- The final scenes of the funeral outside the church were filmed independently by the crew. Bergman was bedridden with the flu at the time.
- After playing Alexander Bertil Guve decided not to appear in films again. He later became a Doctor of Economics.
- The surnames of the characters Vergerus and Egdal are a kind of calling card for Ingmar Bergman.
- Liv Ullmann declined the role of Emilia Ekdal, and was replaced by Eva Fröling. Bergman was upset by the refusal, and told Ullmann that she had lost her right to be the first invited to his films.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
