Fanny and Alexander

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Fanny and Alexander

R

Released Jun 17, 1983

3h 8m

Drama

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100%

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46 Reviews

94%

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10,000+ Ratings

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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Kevin Maher

The 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

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Tom Hutchinson

Radio Times

The result is an unmissable experience from a master film-maker.

Rated: 5/5

Jul 9, 2024

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

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Brian Susbielles

InSession Film

An incredible piece of a cinematic achievement.

Mar 8, 2023

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Stephen C

Success in 3 hours and 8 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/07/25

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Jacob B

This epic of magical realism feels like the film Ingmar Bergman had been working towards his whole career. Having come to his works as a student in college, I thought his early works were the last word in sophistication; films that you could impress people with during a dinner conversation. I avoided “Fanny and Alexander” since it was labeled as his “accessible” film. Over the years I drifted to other foreign directors and neglected Bergman. Then about ten years ago near Christmas I discovered the full length version of this film (5 hours plus) and it gave me such pleasure and surprise in watching it. It is (I guess) his most “accessible” film, but Bergman has lost none of his intellectual heft. It is also his most balanced filmed. Lofty musings on life’s meaning, on religion and death, Bergmans favorite topics, abound to be sure, but so do quiet and elegiac scenes of nostalgia, tradition, childhood, innocence, and family. Bergman wove a magical (and at times, dark) Christmas tale with more heart than any cheesy modern holiday film , a film that examines childhood and family more deeply than any Spielberg-esque saga and with an epic sweep David Lean would approve of …and yet it is as intimate and plain spoken as a short story by Willa Cather. Ingmar Bergmans filmography may have been front loaded with masterpieces but this late film is as close to perfection as a mortal can get.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/25

Full Review

Alexsander F

Muito bom o filme, me surpreendeu demais, um ótimo texto, digno de um poema lírico, a obra é simplesmente fantástica, surrealista e fantasiosa, é tão boa que apesar de ser longa, o tempo passa bem rápido. O cinema bergmaniano é para ser assistido em estado de graça, toda a minha ode a este grande diretor de cinema .

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/02/25

Full Review

Olle K

As a native Swede, nothing shows the eeriness of Swedishness as much as this movie. Watch it. Learn to not like Sweden.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/03/24

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

Full Review

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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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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
Producer: Jörn Donner, Daniel Toscan du Plantier
Screenwriter: Ingmar Bergman
Distributor: Embassy Pictures
Production Co: Cinematograph AB, Gaumont, Persona Films, SVT Drama, Svenska Filminstitutet
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Swedish
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 17, 1983, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 7, 2017
Runtime: 3h 8m

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