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The ex- movie star Mai Zetterling found more satisfaction in directing. In interviews she denied that she is an intellectual, but more intelligent films about male-female emotional politics are hard to come by. Unusually frank and intense, these dramas for the 1960s art film circuit pack a visceral impact — the extreme situations and content disturbed critics concerned with Good Taste. It’s a trilogy of respected works: Loving Couples, Night Games and The Girls.

Three Films by Mai Zetterling

Blu-ray

Loving Couples, Night Games, The Girls

The Criterion Collection 1162

1964-1968 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 13, 2022 / 79.95

Written by Mai Zetterling & David Hughes

Directed by Mai Zetterling

The immensely talented Mai Zetterling began as an actress on stage and film and eventually found herself most satisfied writing and directing. Initially an exotic export from Sweden, she didn’t care for Hollywood but found creative opportunities in England,...

Swedish stage and screen actor best known for her work with the film director Ingmar Bergman

The Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman was renowned for writing complex and demanding roles for women such as Harriet Andersson, Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. Further down the cast list, but prized by the director throughout his career, was Gunnel Lindblom, who has died aged 89.

She appeared in several of his best-known pictures, including The Seventh Seal (1957), in which she was the young mute woman who accompanies a knight’s squire (Gunnar Björnstrand) after he saves her from being raped. When she eventually speaks, it is to deliver the film’s final words: “It is finished.” Lindblom had played the role in an earlier stage version. “I am a rather silent person,” she said, “so maybe he gave me those parts just because he knew I don’t like to talk a lot. I prefer to listen.

Stage and screen acting legend Max Von Sydow, who starred in The Seventh Seal and appeared in The Exorcist, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Flash Gordon, and Game of Thrones, died on March 8 at the age of 90, according to Variety.

“It is with a broken heart and with infinite sadness that we have the extreme pain of announcing the departure of Max von Sydow,” his wife, the producer Catherine Brelet, said in a statement.

Von Sydow made his Hollywood debut as Jesus in the 1965 Biblical epic The Greatest Story Ever Told. This gave him the authority to observe “if Jesus were alive today and saw what they are saying in his name, he would never stop throwing up” in Woody Allen’s 1986 film Hannah and Her Sisters. Von Sydow had the power to compel Satan as Father Merrin in William Friedkin’s 1973 horror classic The Exorcist and Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), directed by John Boorman.

Max von Sydow, the tall, tragic-faced Swedish actor whose name was virtually synonymous with the films of Ingmar Bergman, has died. He was 90.

Variety has confirmed that the actor died on Sunday.

Von Sydow, who became Bergman’s symbol for the modern man in such films as “The Passion of Anna” and “Shame” after making his Bergman debut as the errant knight in “The Seventh Seal,” also had an unusually prolific career in Hollywood and international films.

He made his American debut in the role of Jesus Christ in George Stevens’ turgid 1965 epic “The Greatest Story Ever Told” and went on to make strong impressions with audiences in “The Exorcist,” Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters,” David Lynch’s “Dune,” “Three Days of the Condor,” “Hawaii,” “Conan the Barbarian” and “Awakenings.”

Von Sydow worked for other Scandinavian directors as well, drawing an Oscar nomination for his role in Bille August...

In good news for fans of Ingmar Bergman and Bruno Dumont, the Criterion Collection has announced its June titles. Three from the Swedish master are making the upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray, with Dumont’s “La vie de Jésus” and “L’humanité” making their Criterion debut. Also joining the collection are John Cameron Mitchell’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” George Stevens’ “Swing Time,” and Sergei Bondarchuk’s epic adaptation of “War and Peace.”

More information below, as well as the ever-alluring cover art:

A Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman

In 1960, Swedish director Ingmar Bergman began work on three of his most powerful and representative films, eventually recognized as a trilogy. Already a figure of international acclaim for such masterpieces as The Seventh Seal and The Magician, Bergman turned his back on the expressionism of his fifties work to focus on a series of chamber dramas exploring belief and alienation in the modern age.

Other winners include ’Cold War’, ’All Good’, ‘Skate Kitchen’.

Jasmin Mozaffari’s debut feature Firecrackers has won best film at the Stockholm International Film Festival 2018.

The Canadian drama, which premiered in Toronto, is about two young women desperate to escape their repressive small town; a night of debauchery could derail their future plans. Screen spoke to Mozaffari about the film after its debut.

The jury praised the film’s “originality in portraying the love between two friends, in its urge for freedom, autonomy, loyalty in a violent world, and bringing us to situations in a way that we have never seen before,...

In the category of culture-driven documentaries that focus on film history, a particularly enjoyable subset of that subset is the kind made by noteworthy artists themselves. There’s Martin Scorsese waxing luxuriously on Italian cinema (“My Voyage to Italy”), Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow fanboy-interviewing Brian DePalma for “DePalma,” and now, German filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta (“Hannah Arendt”) taking us on a personal tour of her lifelong admiration for Sweden’s hallowed grandmaster in the playfully inquisitive “Searching for Ingmar Bergman.”

Von Trotta’s connection to Bergman started when she was a young, New Wave-enamored film lover who responded deeply to his 1957 chess-with-Death masterpiece “The Seventh Seal”; she even opens her valentine of a documentary visiting its famed rocky beach setting, narrating the impact of its establishing shots.

When she blossomed as an artist herself as part of West Germany’s own exciting crush of post-war filmmaking talent alongside...

Before Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite” – the acclaimed period-piece centering on the rivalry of two female courtiers, vying for the attention of England’s queen – closes the Stockholm Intl. Film Festival on Nov. 18, the event will have offered its audience 150 films, 39% of which are directed by women, a higher percentage than most international festivals.

The festival opens on Nov. 7 with the world premiere of Anna Odell’s “X&Y,” a film that playfully explores notions of gender identity. It is highly anticipated after the success of the director’s debut, “The Reunion,” which won the Fipresci Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and the best film and script awards at the Guldbagges, Sweden’s top movie contest.

“X&Y” is one of 22 titles competing for the Bronze Horse, the fest’s top prize, restricted to directors with no more than three films. Ten of these are helmed by women, among which are Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum,...

Brady Corbet’s “Vox Lux,” Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra’s “Birds of Passage” and Natalya Meshchaninova’s “Core of the World” are among the wide range of movies competing for the Stockholm Film Festival’s Impact Award.

Other movies vying for the honor are Sergei Loznitsa’s “Donbass,” Richard Billingham’s “Ray & Liz,” Beatriz Seigner’s “Los Silencios,” Soheil Beiraghi’s “Cold Sweat” and Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s “Manta Ray.”

The selections span movies from around the world, from Iran to Brazil to Russia, and are meant to be singular, politically minded films reflecting today’s world in innovative ways. The central theme of this year’s roster is the impact of armed conflicts on lives and relationships.

“In ‘Los Silencios,’ Beatriz Seigner combines the social consequences of an endless armed conflict in Colombia and the uncertain future of families with elements of a ghost story,” the festival said,...

Honorees to include Asghar Farhadi, Mary Harron and Gunnell Lindblom.

The Stockholm International Film Festival has revealed its 2018 programme, with the festival kicking off Nov 7 with the anticipated world premiere of Anna Odell’s X&Y, in competition.

Odell, the Swedish artist and filmmaker who last directed 2013’s award-winning The Reunion, returns starring as a fictionalized version of herself, collaborating with the celebrated actor Mikael Persbrandt to deconstruct themselves. The cast also features Trine Dyrholm, Sofie Gråbøl, Vera Vitali, Shanti Roney, Jens Albinus and Thure Lindhardt. New Europe handles sales.

Stockholm will close Nov 18 with The Favourite by Yorgos Lanthimos, from the Open Zone section.

The marital discord in this show is a different animal than those Italian romps with Loren and Mastroianni — Ingmar Bergman’s miniseries examination of a breakup between two upstanding, thoughtful parents is a demanding, grueling exercise in self-evaluation. Try as one might, we can’t help but compare the fireworks between Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson with one’s personal experiences.

Scenes from a Marriage

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 229

1973 / Color / 1:33 flat Television / 297, 169 min. / Scener ur ett üktenskap / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 4, 2018 / 49.95

Starring: Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Gunnel Lindblom, Bibi Andersson, Wenche Foss, an Malmsjö, Bertil Norström, Anita Wall.

Cinematography: Sven Nykvist

Film Editor: Siv Lundgren

Production Design: Björn Thulin

Produced by Lars-Owe Carlberg

Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman

We long ago found out that fifty million Frenchmen could be wrong when the experts claimed that the whole country loved Jerry Lewis movies. Some of...

The Virgin Spring Blu-ray Review The Virgin Spring (1960) Blu-Ray Review, a movie directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom and Birgitta Pettersson. Release Date: February 8, 1960 Plot “An innocent yet pampered young virgin and her family’s pregnant and jealous servant set out to deliver candles to church, but only [...]

Continue reading: Blu-ray Review: The Virgin Spring (1960): A Study of Vengeance and a Father’s Grief...

Ingmar Bergman’s tale of murder, retribution and God’s forgiveness may be the perfect entry point for art-film appreciation — it’s immediately accessible yet genuinely profound. It’s also a compelling miracle story. Max Von Sydow is the proud father who fills himself with a spirit of vengeance that contradicts his newly-adopted Christianity.

The Virgin Spring

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 321

1960 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 90 min. / Jungfrukällan / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 26, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Birgitta Pettersson, Axel Düberg.

Cinematography: Sven Nykvist

Film Editor: Oscar Rosander

Production Designer: P.A. Lundgren

Original Music: Erik Nordgren

Written by Ulla Isaksson

Produced by Ingmar Bergman, Allan Ekelund

Directed by Ingmar Bergman

I can’t help it, but the only ‘miracle’ movies that inspire me to core thoughts of faith and religion are both Scandinavian: Dreyer’s Ordet and this medieval tale from Ingmar Bergman.

Producers aiming for Cannes berth.

Edward Noeltner’s Cinema Management Group (Cmg) has licensed rights to North America and Germany on the documentary Ingmar Bergman – Legacy Of A Defining Genius.

Oscilloscope Releasing will distribute in North America, while Michael Kölmel and Dietmar Güntsche’s Weltkino will handle Germany and Austria.

Weltkino distributes the Oscar-nominated animation Loving Vincent, which Cmg represents worldwide and has crossed 250,000 admissions in four weeks of limited release.

Laurent Petin and Michele Halberstadt’s Arp Selection boarded Ingmar Bergman – Legacy Of A Defining Genius last autumn. Other distributors include Gianluca Chakra’s Dubai-based Front Row for the Middle East, and Fatih Oflaz’s Medyavizion for Turkey. In China, Lemon Tree Media Company will release the film, while Cinemex acquired all rights for Mexico excluding pan-Latin pay TV and Svod. Cinemax is also distributing Loving Vincent on behalf of Fabrica de Cine in Mexico.

Margarethe von Trotta and Felix Moeller directed Ingmar Bergman – Legacy Of A Defining...

On July 14, 1918 in Uppsala, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman was born, and a quarter-century later, he began to bring his cinematic voice to the world. A century after his brith, with an astounding body of work like few other directors and an influence that reverberates through the past many decades of filmmaking, his filmography is being celebrated like never before.

Starting this February at NYC’s Film Forum and then expanding throughout the nation “the largest jubilee of a single filmmaker” will be underway in a massive, 47-film retrospective. Featuring 35 new restorations, including The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Scenes from a Marriage, Fanny and Alexander, and many, many more, Janus Films has now debuted a beautiful trailer alongside the full line-up of films.

The Ingmar Bergman retrospective begins on February 7 at NYC’s Film Forum and then will expand to the following cities this spring:

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Wa

Detroit Film Theatre,...

Stars: Patricia Gozzi, Dean Stockwell, Melvyn Douglas, Gunnel Lindblom, Leslie Sands, Murray Evans, Sylvia Kay, Peter Sallis, Ellen Pollock | Written by Stanley Mann | Directed by John Guillermin

John Guillermin, the London-born director of the classic disaster film The Towering Inferno directed this moving drama set in France called Rapture in 1965. I am familiar with some of Guillermin’s catalogue, from the aforementioned Towering Inferno to his ’76 version of King Kong to his 60’s war film The Blue Max. I hadn’t seen this though, so it was a treat to see that Masters of Cinema, Eureka’s brilliant line of classic titles, was putting a new version of the film out.

The first thing that struck me upon watching the film was the cinematography. It is just beautiful, and with the new transfer it looks even better than I can imagine it did when it was released those many years ago.

★★★★☆Another forgotten gem given new life on DVD and Blu-ray here in the UK, John Guillermin's Rapture (1965) is a beautifully-made and challenging oddity. It's a film which undoubtedly sent the top brass at Twentieth Century Fox (the studio who first brought it to screen) into a spin when it was first released, but there's a much more to chew on other than the sometimes risqué content. Agnes (Patricia Gozzi) is a confused and unhappy teenage girl on the cusp of adulthood, living in a coastal farmhouse in rural Brittany. She gets little love and reassurance from her emotionally aloof father (Melvyn Douglas), tuning instead to the sexually-active live-in housekeeper (Gunnel Lindblom) for womanly advice.

The gifted film-maker, winner of the top prize at Cannes in 1973, did not always get the acclaim he deserved in his native Britain

The death of the British director Alan Bridges at the age of 86 is a great sadness. Bridges was a brilliant poet and cinematic satirist – in tones both mordant and melancholy – of the English class system of the early 20th century, and a director with a flair for psychology and interior crisis, as evidenced by movies like The Return of the Soldier (1982) and The Shooting Party (1985).

A film-maker to bear comparison with Joseph Losey and John Schlesinger, he was one of the few British directors to win the top prize at the Cannes film festival. Bridges earned that accolade with his wonderful 1973 movie The Hireling, when the award was called the Grand Prix – jointly, in fact, with Jerry Schatzberg's marvellous Scarecrow, another film only recently being rediscovered.

It’s another week which means another round up of all the titles Criterion has put up on their Hulu Plus page. And it’s a great smorgasbord of releases that will keep your eyes full until the next installment. Also, thanks again to everyone who has signed up for Hulu Plus via our referral page. Please sign up and let us know what you think of the service. Enough of this small talk, let’s get into the nitty gritty.

Last week’s article spoke about Louis Malle’s films being put up and sure enough, only a few days later they finally released Black Moon to their page, showing a film that will be coming out on June 28th. I love that they’re doing that with releases that are coming out, just to give their audience the film itself and if you like it, you’ll want to grab the whole package.

Ingmar Bergman

A Retrospective of the renowned Swedish director Ingmar Bergman will be presented at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival.

“Bergman is one of the few who liberated cinema, freed it from conventions and brought it to a new artistic form, which opened a new world for many cineastes”, said Rainer Rotherin, the director of the Retrospective, in an interview.

Bergman is one of the few directors who is credited to have worked with the same team over decades. Three of the actresses Bergman has worked with: Harriet Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom and Liv Ullmann, will present his films at the Berlinale. They will also converse in detail publicly about life and work with Bergman for both the screen and the stage.

The director, who died in 2007, is well known for his films like The Silence , Scenes from a Marriage and Fanny and Alexander, which won him four Oscars.

The...

Harriet Andersson, Bibi Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom in The Girls Michael Patrick Kelly’s documentary Operation Lysistrata, Melvin James‘ A Miami Tail, and Mai Zetterling’s The Girls will be screened at the Getty Villa’s Auditorium on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 14-15. Admission is free, but a separate ticket is required for each film. Having staged Aristophanes‘ Peace earlier this season, Los Angeles’ Getty Villa continues its celebration of "the father of comedy" with this three-film series based on the Athenian playwright’s best-known work, the anti-war satire Lysistrata, in which the women of Athens and neighboring cities go on a sex strike so as to force their male partners to reconsider their warring habits. Of the three, Mai Zetterling’s The Girls (1968) is the one [...]...