Fanny and Alexander

R

Now Playing

3 hr. 8 min.

Drama

List

100%

45 Reviews

Tomatometer

94%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) and Alexander (Bertil Guve) enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie (Ewa Fröling), marries a stern bishop (Jan Malmsjö). The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.

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Critics Consensus

Ingmar Bergman conveys the sweep of childhood with a fastidious attention to detail and sumptuous insight into human frailty in Fanny & Alexander, a masterwork that crystalizes many of the directors' preoccupations into a familial epic.

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Sybe D

A masterpiece, but: the television series from which the movie was cut, is even beter! (available on the good old DVD)

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Isaiah Y

One of Ingmar Bergman's best films

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

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Thomas V

This film is long but never boring, both joyous and quite sad, harsh but also exuberant. It's lushly filmed and the performances are solid, especially Alexander. I quite liked it and I understand why it's considered one of the greats.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/04/23

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Johan A

Fantastic representation of scandinavian christmas rituals. Brilliant actors and direction. Loved it.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

12/30/22

Full Review

dave s

What is Ingmar Bergman's best film? Persona? The Seventh Seal? Cries and Whispers? Or could it be Fanny and Alexander, Bergman's semi-autobiographical story of growing up in early 20th-century Sweden? The first act of the film is a joyous celebration of what it is to be young as young Alexander (Bertil Guve) rollicks through life with the expansive Ekdahl family, a bourgeois group who embrace the joys of music, food and theater. However, when his father dies and his mother marries a stern bishop, he finds himself at the mercy of the cruel whims of his rigid stepfather. It is a visually stunning film, shot by Bergman's regular cinematographer Sven Nykvist, the first half filled with vibrant colors, the second half with drab tones, clearly representing the contrasts in Alexander's early life and punctuating the significant impacts of the adult influences in our formative years.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

william k

Lovingly detailed and obviously autobiographical period piece is something of a summary of Bergman's previous work, made by a matured director in full confidence of his talents; immensely enjoyable and entertaining.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Ingmar Bergman

Director

Pernilla Allwin

Fanny Ekdahl

Bertil Guve

Alexander Ekdahl

Erland Josephson

Isak Jacobi

Gunn Wållgren

Helena Ekdahl

Allan Edwall

Oscar Ekdahl

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89%

67%

The Slingshot

91%

90%

Cries and Whispers

76%

85%

Veronika Voss

79%

59%

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Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

A series of exquisitely written and often lavishly staged set pieces punctuated by the punishments of Alexander...

Rated: 4/5

Dec 2, 2022

Full Review

Michael Blowen

Boston Globe

In "Fanny and Alexander," Ingmar Bergman has put the magic back into his lantern.

Apr 27, 2018

Full Review

Melissa Anderson

Time Out

Rated: 5/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

Dilys Powell

Punch

For over two hours one watched, spellbound, a story of two children enclosed in the memories and the experiences of their elders. But really it is the birth of the Ingmar Bergman cinema which one is watching.

Oct 2, 2023

Full Review

Brian Susbielles

InSession Film

An incredible piece of a cinematic achievement.

Mar 8, 2023

Full Review

Michael Wood

London Review of Books

There is a real delicacy in [Bergman's] filming of festivities, first Christmas and later a double christening. The fun is effective, even contagious, but there is always worry in the air.

Feb 8, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) and Alexander (Bertil Guve) enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie (Ewa Fröling), marries a stern bishop (Jan Malmsjö). The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Screenwriter: Ingmar Bergman
Distributor: Embassy Pictures
Production Co: Persona Films, Cinematograph AB, Gaumont, Svenska Filminstitutet, SVT Drama
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Swedish
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 17, 1983, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 7, 2017

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