viking168

This is a film that raises far above most of the more or less 'overloaded' and quasi-spectacular films that 'occupies' the cinemas these days. From the very first shot this film take a firm grip on you, and you feel immediately that "you are in good hands", to quote Woody Allen. Even if the films theme is universal and quite often filmed, its timeless figure gets a deeper and more powerful shape in the context it's narrated. The actors are excellent, and the main character; Hedi, is brilliant and won the 'Silver bear' for best leading actor in Berlin recently.

In the beginning you might think 'whats wrong with him?' though he seems to be blocked or like a 'broken bulb'. But soon you understand why. 'Who am I, and what kind of life do I want to live?' Nobody, and especially not Hedis closest relatives, seems to be interested in what kind of answer he will come up with. 'Everything is fixed', 'the painting is already completed', or at least the most important parts of it... The excellent director and photographer reveals the kind of 'prison' Hedi is captured in- or entering freely - with many 'closeups' and you only rarely are 'released' by a blue sky or a sea. It may sound banal but it's not. It's not an easy thing to do, 'walking your way', neglecting all the expectations that others 'will lay on your shoulders'. Sometimes or at some places the obstacles, the stakes are higher...

A powerful and well balanced film in any aspect; excellent acting, great directing, script and photo. See it, you won't be disappointed! From the very beginning it strikes a chord that hold you and gets deeper into your heart shot by shot. "We want to feel, we want to be touched...." The first lines epitomize the theme in this great film and connects to these epic lines by the Swedish writer Hjalmar Söderberg (Doctor Glass):

"We want to be loved, failing that, admired; failing that, feared; failing that, hated and scorned.

We want to instill some sort of feeling. Spirit shudder void and want contact at any price."

One of you wrote that Fanny and Alexander is "one of the best film of all time" and added that it might be an "exaggeration". No, it's not an exaggeration. A handful of masterpieces might be in "the same gallery". But no one is better and no one is more beautiful, breathtaking and brilliant. I saw F & A the first time in the end of 1982, when I was 22, and then I wasn't so impressed that I was later. The long/ TV-serious-version, 312 min, is the ultimate masterpiece but the 180 min/ film version is marvelous as well. The rhythm and visual and artistic brilliance of every shot in this film are so excellent and perfectly balanced and executed that it knocks me out. Again and again. There are so many levels in this Masterpiece, so much light and darkness, so much Body and Soul, so much reality and mystery, so much of what life is about but so hard to describe and express. Bergman and his brilliant artists and craftsmen - don't forget them - create the kind of a miracle that takes a Rembrandt, J.S Bach or Mozart...One of the most magnificent films of all time, if not the most magnificent...