Characters / Fanny and Alexander

The Ekdahls

Alexander Ekdahl

• The Cynic: Particularly when they move to the Bishop's House.
• Nay-Theist: He has it out for God after his father's death.
  "If there is a God, then he is a shit God who I'd like to kick in the butt."
• Pinball Protagonist: He and Fanny mostly spend the movie being thrown into different circumstances, both harmless and not-so-harmless ones.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Fanny's blue.

Fanny Ekdahl

• Children Are Innocent: Mostly.

Emelie Ekdahl

• Guess Who I'm Marrying?: She agrees to marry Edvard because she loves him, but she quickly regrets it.

Oskar Ekdahl

• Disappeared Dad: He dies early in the story, much to his son Alexander's grief. He keeps having visions of him throughout the movie.
• Good Parents: He was a kind and fun-loving father to Alexander and Fanny, in contrast to their future stepfather Edvard.
• Light Is Good: As a ghost, he wears white clothes.

The Vergérus

Edvard Vergérus

The bishop who Emelie marries. But he turns out to be a fanatical and sadistic abuser.

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• Abusive Parents: He becomes the step-father of Fanny and Alexander once Emelie marries him, which they quickly learn was a bad idea.
• Asshole Victim: He finally receives a drawn-out and painful death by the end of the film when his dying aunt caught fire and ran towards him, burning him alive.
• Big Bad: The abusive and tyrannical step-father of the titular children, who spend the movie trying to get out of this situation.
• Churchgoing Villain: Justified as he is a bishop.
• Control Freak: He is very manipulative and ruthless. He wants everyone under his roof to be under his influence.
• Disproportionate Retribution: His punishment for Alexander after he (supposedly) lied about him is to strike him on the butt till he bleeds and then lock him up in the attic.
• Domestic Abuse: Very cruel to his new wife and step-children, which is why they (and the audience) end up hating him so much.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Subverted with Emelie and her kids, as his ”love” for them seems to be more out of a feeling of being in control of people. Which shows when he abuses them both physically and psychologically.
  • He does, however, seem to take care of his sick aunt. But whether that is genuine care or pragmatic villainy is ambiguous.
• Evil Is Petty: As if slapping Alexander on the ass till he bleeds wasn’t extreme enough (for lying), he also tries locking him in the attic for the night, knowing well that Alexander is afraid of the dark.
• Evil Old Folks: Old enough to have gray hair and is very, very evil.
• Evil Wears Black: Always seen wearing a black robe.
• Faux Affably Evil: He carries a polite and soft-spoken facade and is always calm and collected, when he is actually a psychopathic and controlling abuser. Which Emelie and the kids learn the hard way.
• Hate Sink: Ingmar Bergman and Jan Malmsjö made a great job at making this guy as despicable as possible. Edvard has zero redeeming qualities and almost every scene he appears in makes your skin crawl. You can just take a look at this character page to see who we’re dealing with.
• It's All About Me: He seems to believe that he stands by God and thus can treat people however he wants because he is always in the ”right”. He genuinely cannot grasp why anyone would hate him.
• Manipulative Bastard: He is a surprisingly skilled and persuasive speaker, which is why he managed to convince Emilie to marry him in the first place.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: In case you didn’t hate him enough, he is also openly anti-Semitic.
• Sinister Minister: He is a bishop and claims to stand by God and ”goodness”, when he is anything but.
• The Sociopath: Edvard completely lacks empathy, remorse and guilt and expects people to respect him despite the horrible way he treats them.