Ingmar Bergman

When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe

A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook

Crotchety retired doctor Isak Borg travels from Stockholm to Lund, Sweden, with his pregnant and unhappy daughter-in-law, Marianne, in order to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater. Along the way, they encounter a series of hitchhikers, each of whom causes the elderly doctor to muse upon the pleasures and failures of his own life. These include the vivacious young Sara, a dead ringer for the doctor's own first love.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Victor Sjöström, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin

As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander 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, marries a stern bishop. 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.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Pernilla Allwin, Bertil Guve, Jan Malmsjö

After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman

Johan and Marianne are married and seem to have it all. Their happiness, however, is a façade for a troubled relationship, which becomes even rockier when Johan admits that he's having an affair. Before long, the spouses separate and move towards finalizing their divorce, but they make attempts at reconciling. Even as they pursue other relationships, Johan and Marianne realize that they have a significant bond, but also many issues that hinder that connection.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Bibi Andersson

As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so immersed in their own psychic pains that they are unable to offer her the support she needs.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Liv Ullmann, Ingrid Thulin, Kari Sylwan

Devout Christians Töre and Märeta send their only daughter, the virginal Karin, and their foster daughter, the unrepentant Ingeri, to deliver candles to a distant church. On their way through the woods, the girls encounter a group of savage goat herders who brutally rape and murder Karin as Ingeri remains hidden. When the killers unwittingly seek refuge in the farmhouse of Töre and Märeta, Töre plots a fitting revenge.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom

A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Gunnel Lindblom

Karin hopes to recover from her recent stay at a mental hospital by spending the summer at her family's cottage on a tiny island. Her husband, Martin, cares for her but is frustrated by her physical withdrawal. Her younger brother, Minus, is confused by Karin's vulnerability and his own budding sexuality. Their father, David, cannot overcome his haughty remoteness. Beset by visions, Karin descends further into madness.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow

Early in the 20th century, middle-aged lawyer Fredrik Egerman and his young wife, Anne, have still not consummated their marriage, while Fredrik's son finds himself increasingly attracted to his new stepmother. To make matters worse, Fredrik's old flame Desiree makes a public bet that she can seduce him at a romantic weekend retreat where four couples convene, swapping partners and pairing off in unexpected ways.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Gunnar Björnstrand, Ulla Jacobsson, Eva Dahlbeck

In the midst of a civil war, a pair of former violinists in a tempestuous marriage oversee a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Sigge Fürst

Traveling through an unnamed European country on the brink of war, sickly, intellectual Ester, her sister Anna and Anna's young son, Johan, check into a near-empty hotel. A basic inability to communicate among the three seems only to worsen during their stay. Anna provokes her sister by enjoying a dalliance with a local man, while the boy, left to himself, has a series of enigmatic encounters that heighten the growing air of isolation.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten

While vacationing on a remote German island with his younger pregnant wife, an artist has an emotional breakdown while confronting his repressed desires.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Gertrud Fridh

Through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander, we witness the delights and conflicts of the Ekdahl family, a sprawling bourgeois clan in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Sweden.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Pernilla Allwin, Bertil Guve, Ewa Fröling

One summer day, two teens begin a reckless affair and abandon their families to be with one another.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Harriet Andersson, Lars Ekborg, Dagmar Ebbesen

A recently divorced man and an emotionally devastated widow begin a love affair.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson

A traveling magician and his troupe arrive in a Swedish town in the 1840s, where their act is scrutinized by local authorities and a skeptical medical official. Their stay leads to a series of confrontations that test the boundaries between performance, belief, and deception.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Max von Sydow, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand

Don Juan is sent from Hell to Earth with a mission: to seduce a virgin in order to spoil her pure wedding. The mission becomes frantic when Don Juan falls in love for the first time in centuries.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Jarl Kulle, Bibi Andersson, Stig Järrel

During a brief summer vacation, a lonely woman recalls her first love thirteen years earlier.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Maj-Britt Nilsson, Birger Malmsten, Alf Kjellin

A number of complicated relationships develop between a circus ringmaster, his estranged wife and his lover.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Åke Grönberg, Harriet Andersson, Hasse Ekman

Johan and Marianne appear to have a stable marriage, but their relationship begins to unravel when Johan reveals an affair. Over the course of several years, the series follows their separation, divorce, and continued interactions as they form new relationships while remaining emotionally bound to one another. Told across six episodes, the narrative traces the changing terms of their intimacy, conflict, and dependency. (Note: This entry covers the 1973 six-part Swedish television miniseries. A condensed theatrical feature assembled from the same material was released separately in 1974.)

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Bibi Andersson

Reuniting the characters of Johan and Marianne three decades after "Scenes from a Marriage," "Saraband" follows Marianne’s visit to her reclusive ex-husband, where she finds him locked in a destructive conflict with his troubled son Henrik and Henrik’s musically gifted daughter Karin. Told as an intimate chamber drama, the film explores love, resentment, forgiveness, and the inescapable pull of family bonds.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Börje Ahlstedt

An account of the events before and after a murder committed by a disturbed businessman in a strained marriage, and what led him to perform such a shocking act.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Robert Atzorn, Christine Buchegger, Martin Benrath

A psychiatrist temporarily separated from her family begins to experience severe psychological distress while working at a mental hospital and returning to her childhood home. As her professional responsibilities and personal relationships intersect, she undergoes a breakdown that forces her to confront long-suppressed memories and fears. (Note: This entry refers to the 1976 theatrical feature film (approximately 135 minutes), created by condensing and re-editing the four-part Swedish television miniseries originally produced the same year.)

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Aino Taube

The Queen of the Night enlists a handsome prince named Tamino to rescue her beautiful kidnapped daughter, Princess Pamina, in this screen adaptation of the beloved Mozart opera. Aided by the lovelorn bird hunter Papageno and a magical flute that holds the power to change the hearts of men, young Tamino embarks on a quest for true love, leading to the evil Sarastro's temple where Pamina is held captive.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Josef Köstlinger, Irma Urrila, Håkan Hagegård

In 1923 Berlin, following the suicide of his brother, an American acrobat struggles to survive while facing unemployment, depression, alcoholism, and the social decay of Germany during the Weimar Republic.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With David Carradine, Liv Ullmann, Gert Fröbe

A small-town piano teacher is shocked by the arrival of her foster daughter's biological mother, whose young lover soon follows and causes further disruption.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman · With Inga Landgré, Stig Olin, Marianne Löfgren