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Fanny and Alexander

Play trailerPoster for Fanny and AlexanderRReleased Jun 17, 19833h 8mDramaPlay 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 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 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 Full Review Brian Susbielles InSession Film An incredible piece of a cinematic achievement. Mar 8, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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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 stars02/11/25 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 stars01/02/25 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 stars12/03/24 Full Review Isaiah Y One of Ingmar Bergman's best films Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars01/13/23 Full Review 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 stars01/04/23 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 stars03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Fanny and Alexander

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Cast & Crew

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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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Fanny and Alexander

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Movie Info

SynopsisAs 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
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
Runtime
3h 8m
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