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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ingmar-Bergman-002_7846.jpg]]
2->''"Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls."''
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4Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a [[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} Swedish]] director, regarded as one of the true greats in the history of film. Between writing, directing, and producing, he was nominated for thirteen MediaNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning for [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestForeignLanguageFilm Best Foreign Film]] three times: ''The Virgin Spring'' (1960, the inspiration for the American ''Film/TheLastHouseOnTheLeft''), ''Through a Glass Darkly'' (1961), and ''Fanny and Alexander'' (1983). Another of his famous films is ''The Seventh Seal'', a TropeCodifier for ChessWithDeath.
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6His films have a reputation for being gloomy and surrealistic. Although he generally tells identifiable "stories," [[LeFilmArtistique straightforward plot descriptions will rarely give any real indication of what his movies are "about"]]; even criticism of his works tends to sound like psychobabble. Bergman himself even stated that he didn't so much care if the audience understood what he was going for [[EmotionalTorque as long as they felt something]]. Despite being (rather unjustly) a poster child for TrueArtIsIncomprehensible, the list of filmmakers who regard him as being among the best directors ever is long, including Creator/WoodyAllen, Creator/StanleyKubrick, Creator/MartinScorsese, Creator/StevenSpielberg, Creator/AngLee and Creator/FrancisFordCoppola. There's a reason forty of his films[[note]]forty-one, if you count ''Torment'', for which he wrote the screenplay[[/note]] have been released in America by Creator/TheCriterionCollection.
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8However, it should be noted that in his lifetime, Bergman was pretty much a household name in TheSixties and TheSeventies across the world. His films were generally box-office successes, not only in Sweden and Europe, but also in America. His film ''Series/{{Scenes from a Marriage|1973}}'' was the most popular TV show of its age, and according to legend was a cause for a spike in divorce rates after the film's release. ''Cries and Whispers'' was likewise released in America by none other than Creator/RogerCorman, who managed to distribute it so well that it became a box-office success there.
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10Not to be confused with, nor has any relation to, another Swedish famous film persona, Creator/IngridBergman (though he once directed her, in ''Autumn Sonata''; people on set got them confused).
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12!!Works by Ingmar Bergman with their own trope pages include:
13[[index]]
14* ''Film/{{Torment|1944}}'' (1944) (screenplay)
15* ''Film/SummerWithMonika'' (1953)
16* ''Film/SawdustAndTinsel'' (1953)
17* ''Film/SmilesOfASummerNight'' (1955)
18* ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'' (1957)
19* ''Film/WildStrawberries'' (1957)
20* ''Film/BrinkOfLife'' (1958)
21* ''Film/TheVirginSpring'' (1960)
22* ''Film/ThroughAGlassDarkly'' (1961)
23* ''Film/WinterLight'' (1963)
24* ''Film/{{Tystnaden}}'' (The Silence) (1963)
25* ''Film/Persona1966''
26* ''Film/HourOfTheWolf'' (1968)
27* ''Film/{{Skammen}}'' (The Shame) (1968)
28* ''Film/EnPassion'' (The Passion of Anna) (1969)
29* ''Film/TheTouch1971''
30* ''Film/CriesAndWhispers'' (1972)
31* ''Series/{{Scenes from a Marriage|1973}}'' (1973)
32* ''Film/TheMagicFlute'' (1975)
33* ''Film/FaceToFace'' (1976)
34* ''Film/AutumnSonata'' (1978)
35* ''Film/FromTheLifeOfTheMarionettes'' (1981)
36* ''Film/FannyAndAlexander'' (1982)
37* ''Film/TheBestIntentions'' (1992) (screenplay)
38[[/index]]
39----
40!!Tropes:
41* AbortionFalloutDrama: In his early film ''Port of Call'' (1948), the young working-class heroine picks up a friend from a BackAlleyDoctor abortionist. Something goes very wrong, the friend dies, and when the cops demand that she name the abortionist, she refuses, arguing that someone has to look out for the people society leaves to fend for themselves.
42* AntiHero: In almost all of his films, the heroes possess glaring personal flaws, either having to do with the way they treat others, the way they look at the world or their inability to see the ramifications of their actions.
43* BerserkButton: Bergman was sentenced to a hefty fine after pushing a theatre critic down the stairs of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. The reason? The critic has insulted the actor in a play Bergman had put up. When asked about his sentence he said something to the effect of: "''Best money I've ever spent''".
44* CerebusSyndrome:
45** In a lot of his film things start relatively optimistically but always shift for the worse. And worse. And even worse. ''{{Film/Hour of the Wolf}}'', ''Film/{{Skammen}}'', ''Film/EnPassion'', ''Film/CriesAndWhispers'', ''Film/FaceToFace'', ''Film/AutumnSonata'', ''Film/FannyAndAlexander'' are all examples. In the beginning of each of the films listed the situation appears somewhat regular. But it rapidly deteriorates.
46** Applies to his career as well. He started out specializing in comedies, but after ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'' he took a DarkerAndEdgier turn.
47* CrapsackWorld: Bergman's work is associated with drama about life and death. ''Skammen'' was especially notable for being set in an unnamed war torn nation showing what war does to people and human relations.
48* CrisisOfFaith: He made an entire trilogy about "the Silence of God" and it crops up in a lot of his movies. He was raised in a family of Lutheran priests and had a difficult relationship with his father. He eventually did become an agnostic and in his view the movie ''The Silence'' was the point where he stopped asking everyone HaveYouSeenMyGod and religion, while still a part in his films, stopped being as prominent in his later films.
49* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Black-and-white is used to great effect in his work. He came to colour film later than other European film-makers and only used it sporadically, making exclusively colour films only in TheSeventies and TheEighties.
50* DevilInDisguise: In ''Film/FannyAndAlexander'' and ''Film/TheDevilsEye'', a rigid religious morality and those people who embody it are shown to destroy a true impulse for goodness in people.
51* {{Dramedy}}: Although he is best known for his existential dramas, Bergman is surprisingly good at getting laughs, even making some outright comedies. Even his most dour pictures, like ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'' have some laugh-out-loud moments.
52* TheGrimReaper: Death is prominent subject in his work. To the point that the Grim Reaper is actually a character in ''Film/TheSeventhSeal''.
53* LeFilmArtistique: His pop culture reputation is as the ultimate example of this trope. People are often surprised to find that his films, while dealing with weighty themes, can actually be quite accessible, since he usually wrapped them around easily-understandable premises and plots, and included some humor as well.
54* MagicRealism: Many of his films contain supernatural elements to varying degrees.
55* MoneyDearBoy: Money is why he did nine commercials for the soap brand Bris in 1951 (he still cared enough that they came out rather artsy). It was necessary because the Swedish film industry was on strike at the time to protest the high taxes applied to it. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UMbvohZ_iY One]] was also his first work with Bibi Andersson.
56-->"The primary reason I wanted to make the commercials was that I was given free rein with money and I could do exactly what I wanted with the product's message. Anyhow, I have always found it difficult to feel resentment when industry comes rushing toward culture, check in hand."
57* NotSoStoic: Almost every film features a very stoic person breaks down in every possible way – existentially, mentally, physically, sexually.
58* OldShame: He really disliked most of the films he made at the start of his career, but considered his absolute nadir to be ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043019/ This Can't Happen Here]]'', an {{Anvilicious}} spy thriller that he made on demand. It's never seen a home video release and is very rarely shown at film festivals.
59* ProductionPosse:
60** One of his usual collaborators was cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Before him there was the less-known Gunnar Fischer, who worked with Bergman up until 1960's ''The Devil's Eye''; others included ''The Seventh Seal'', ''Wild Strawberries'' and ''The Magician''.
61** Also quite a few actors, among them Creator/LivUllmann, Creator/ErlandJosephson, Creator/HarrietAndersson, Creator/BibiAndersson, Creator/MaxVonSydow, Creator/IngridThulin, Creator/GunnarBjornstrand and Creator/GunnelLindblom.
62* SequelGap: A whole '''thirty years''' between ''Scenes From a Marriage'' (1973) and ''Saraband'' (2003). The gap is a major PlotPoint in ''Saraband''. [[invoked]]
63* ShowWithinAShow: Quite a few of his movies feature in-story films or plays, often with generous helpings of StylisticSuck.
64* ThemeNaming: Bergman often used the same names for characters with particular traits, almost to the point of Hogwarts houses. For instance, artists with connection to great truths tend to be named Vogler (''The Magician'', ''Film/HourOfTheWolf'', ''Film/Persona1966''), authoritarians and villains Vergerus (''The Magician'', ''The Serpent's Egg'', ''Film/FannyAndAlexander''), Rosenbergs are tormented failures (''Film/{{Skammen}}'', ''The Serpent's Egg''), Jacobis practical and secretive (''Film/FaceToFace'', ''Film/FannyAndAlexander'') and Egermans are unhappily married (''Film/SmilesOfASummerNight'', ''The Magician'', ''Series/{{Scenes from a Marriage|1973}}'').
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