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Review 'Fanny and Alexander'
"FANNY AND ALEXANDER" --
Dream compromises with reality, in a fairy tale's way.
'"Fanny and Alexander" is like a piece of luxurious French tapestry. The audience can pick up any characters, any events, or any images they like from the tapestry of "Fanny and Alexander".' (Ingmar Bergman, Peter Cowie's Ingmar Bergman)
"Fanny and Alexander" is a combination of comedy, tragedy, and thriller. It looks different from Bergman's other films, that deal with self-pity. On the contrary, "Fanny and Alexander" is more optimistic about life than Bergman's other films. The film is filled with the love for family; and this resonates the happy closure of Bergman's exile in foreign countries and finally coming back to his home - Sweden. Especially, the location of "Fanny and Alexander" is exactly Bergman's home town, Uppsala. In addition, many characters in this film are played by Bergman's real family members. This is unlike Bergman's other films, in which Bergman only used his favorite actresses and actors. Therefore, it is not a surprise to know that "Fanny and Alexander" has a happy ending. Even though the bourgeois family in the film goes through so many unfortunate events that are hopeless to seek any solutions, the happy ending is still as joyful as the happy beginning of the film - a happy family reunion for Christmas. In order to achieve a happy ending after so many unresolved bad things, Bergman had to add some unreasonable magic twists to the story. Nevertheless, it is still a sweet lie for anyone who feels the obligation to make himself optimistic for life. We can understand why Bergman made this luxurious production a memorable reminiscence to his film career, after he announced his decision to retire from film production. However, subconsciously in "Fanny and Alexander", Bergman still failed to convince himself to forget about criticizing religion, desire, and communication. The reason why the leading characters of "Fanny and Alexander" are clean and happy little boy and girl, one can say that the two beautiful children suggest Bergman's childhood; however, it would rather to say that Bergman is compensating for his unhappy childhood by having two happy children play his childhood in this film. Accordingly, we therefore realize it is no wonder that there are so many plots of unreasonable magic in this film about life. It is only because that a happy, satisfying life is really just a fairy tale!
The fast montage in the beginning scene of Christmas night looks like a kaleidoscope. It covers all the aspects of the real leading role of the film: the big bourgeois family of the two little children - Fanny and Alexander. The pace of this editing is fast, playful, and light hearted. Then the film turns into a slow and heavy pace to describe how Fanny and Alexander's father dies; and so it leads the audience to the major part of the film. This heavy section is followed by a series of inter cuts between the home of their step father and the summer house of their grandmother. The rapid and repeated inter cut neurotically ties up the dramatic tension and makes the audience anxious. Little by little, magic and deviltry finally enters to facilitate the climax. This climax is composed by the inter cut between the antique store and the brutal body-burning scene. Ostensibly, it is a triumph of the magic that defeats Fanny and Alexander's step father - the minister. (Attacking Christianity with vandalism?) Nonetheless, it also presents the fact that there are some difficulties and some myths in our life that never mean to be solved or answered. (Such as the conversation between Alexander and his father's ghost; and the visit to the spooky antique store at mid night.) Finally, Fanny and Alexander's family gets through all the obstructions and reunite for a happy ending. Then the noise of laughing and singing of the happy reunion fades out. Their old grandmother once again sits in her rocking chair as the same as she does in the opening scene of the film, she looks viable enough to survive any harsh in her life. And even she knows very early that she has no alternative for life; but somehow she still hopes...
The most wonderful editing in this film are the inter cut between the step father's home and the summer house, as well as another inter cut between the antique store and the body-burning scene. The former inter cut juxtaposes two emotional feelings that supplement each other-- suffering and worrying, and successfully aggravates both feelings as well as audience's anxiety. The later inter cut irresponsibly deals with the characters' crisis by using unreasonable magic to connect a hopeless story with a happy ending. There may really be some magic or deviltry involved in Fanny and Alexander's lives; or it is just a ironic twist to wrap up a tragedy with a malicious sugar coating.
As for Bergman's best specialty - drama of death, we could never forget how uncomfortably we have to struggle to get through the scene in Cries and Whispers, in which the rich sister of the family is dying, however she is so reluctant to die even after she does. In "Fanny and Alexander", the scene of their father's death is also very powerful. Unlike the furious struggle of the death in Cries and Whispers, the death in "Fanny and Alexander" looks cold and calm. However, it is the same reluctant as the death in Cries and Whisper. The death in "Fanny and Alexander" also finds no way to separate from his beloved. His ghost appears to visit his children again and again. This is how Bergman cruelly show us the imperfection of life in this kind of most indifferent way - Life is short, but the regret and hatred is eternal.
"Fanny and Alexander" is Bergman's first film after he came back to Sweden from the unpleasant exile for five years. However, this is also his last film before his retirement from his film career. Being able to make films again in his own country, Bergman felt very happy and content. This delightful mood also affects the film. The bright and colorful Fanny and Alexander looks so different from Bergman's other films which are depressed and gloomy. "Fanny and Alexander" is one of Bergman's few films that are easy to understand and appreciate. Apart from the aggressive and radical attitude Bergman used to have in his films, in "Fanny and Alexander", his attitude to talk about the problems of life is more forgiving and reserved; and this kind gesture makes "Fanny and Alexander" more popular than his other films.
The trademark treatments of Bergman, Extreme close-up of facial expression and geometric sequence shot, are also making great achievements in "Fanny and Alexander". For example, the step father's mother shows Fanny and Alexander their new home and introduces them their step father's fat old sister who is so sick in bed. The step father's mother looks at the camera with an extreme close-up; and tells the audience don't be afraid. Then she leaves the camera from the left side of the frame to the right side, as to allow us see behind her the door of the sick lady's room also open from left to right. This is an extraordinary way to introduce the sick lady to the audience, while also suggests the pathological situation their step father's family has. Some more examples: The minister and his new wife, Fanny and Alexander's mother, always dresses in white and they barely have any facial expression. And this successfully makes them look cold and alienated from each other. When the minister is chastising Fanny and Alexander, we can see a cross on the wall behind the minister, as well as the other family members of the minister standing along the wall and coldly watching the children suffering. This is exactly an imitation of a religious ritual, so is an irony of religion. Another great scene to mention: when Fanny and Alexander's mother is crying for her husband's death, we see the image of the dead body right fit in the frame of the room's door. The dead body looks like it is being constrained in a tight frame, while his wife howls and walks in and out of the frame. The power of emotional explosion thus strongly conflict with the suppression of the door's frame. There are so many such wonderful scenes in "Fanny and Alexander" that we can talk about. Nevertheless, Bergman's films are always about family and people's relationship and shot in small places. Though this kind of films are appropriate for Bergman's habitual subject of depression; however, we are still curious if he would make something wider and different.
by Tung-Wang Wu
June, 1985
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