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Fanny and Alexander

Play trailer Poster for Fanny and Alexander R 1983 3h 8m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 46 Reviews 94% Popcornmeter 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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Fanny and Alexander

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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Critics Reviews

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Kevin Maher The Times (UK) 12/02/2022
4/5
A series of exquisitely written and often lavishly staged set pieces punctuated by the punishments of Alexander... Go to Full Review
Michael Blowen Boston Globe 04/27/2018
In "Fanny and Alexander," Ingmar Bergman has put the magic back into his lantern. Go to Full Review
Lance Goldenberg Village Voice 12/03/2008
A sprawling, ornately constructed entertainment. Go to Full Review
Tom Hutchinson Radio Times 07/09/2024
5/5
The result is an unmissable experience from a master film-maker. Go to Full Review
Dilys Powell Punch 10/02/2023
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. Go to Full Review
Brian Susbielles InSession Film 03/08/2023
An incredible piece of a cinematic achievement. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Harry s Oct 22 Sensational Bergman at his finest, with exquisite art direction and cinematography. See more Stefano T Sep 19 It's interesting in some way, boring in others, and quite difficult to understand without some previous or post research about it. I must point out that I've also watched the mini-series, which add a few scenes that in my opinion were important (but I totally understand why it was impossible to keep everything and at the same time shortening the movie). See more Jacob B Jan 6 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. See more Alexsander F Jan 2 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 . See more Olle K 12/03/2024 As a native Swede, nothing shows the eeriness of Swedishness as much as this movie. Watch it. Learn to not like Sweden. See more Isaiah Y 01/13/2023 One of Ingmar Bergman's best films See more Read all reviews
Fanny and Alexander

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Movie Info

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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