Hybridity, Fluidity and Ingmar Bergman's Alternative Moral Picture

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Hybridity, Fluidity and Ingmar Bergman’s Alternative Moral Picture

The ideological value of Fanny and Alexander (1983)

Hainan Zeng

Department of Media Studies

Master’s Thesis 30 ECTS Credits

Cinema Studies

Master’s Programme in Cinema Studies 120 ECTS Credits

Spring term 2019

Supervisor: Maaret Koskinen

Hybridity, Fluidity and Ingmar Bergman’s Alternative Moral Picture The ideological value of Fanny and Alexander (1983) Hainan Zeng

Abstract

Bergman has claimed that he does not have any ideological intention behind his films. He has also been generally criticized for his bourgeois outlook and lack of ideology. Among the vast amount of Bergman studies as well, the ideological aspect of Bergman’s films has been an under-researched area. This thesis will focus on the five-hour television version of Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1983) and investigate the interrelationship between the formal features of narrative, character, music and their ideological functions, utilizing ideological and formalist approaches. The premise of this study is: films are cultural products that implicitly or explicitly carry ideological messages. Bergman’s films are no exception. Through the blend of contradictory elements in narrative and the representation of fluid subjectivity, Bergman’s cinematic vision provides an “alternative moral picture”, an expression coined by Hector Rodriguez, and functions as ideology critique. This thesis intends to shed more light on the ideological value embedded in Bergman’s films in general, and Fanny and Alexander in particular, and contribute to a comprehensive field of Bergman research.

Keywords:

Bergman study, ideological approach, formalist approach, Fanny and Alexander (1983), formal features, narrative, character, music, hybridity, fluidity, ideology, ideology critique, alternative moral picture.

Acknowledgments

I would first like to thank my supervisor Professor Maaret Koskinen for her patience and support during the long writing process. I have benefited from her advice, encouragement, constructive criticism and careful feedback. I am truly grateful for her expertise on the subject of Bergman studies which have made this thesis better than it otherwise would have been.

I would also like to thank the librarians at the Swedish Film Institute’s library for their competence and friendliness.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my family for their constant support.

Content

1.Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Background and relevance ...... 1 1.2 Research questions and aims ...... 5 1.3 Materials and methodologies ...... 6 1.4 Disposition of the thesis ...... 8 2. Literature review ...... 10 2.1 John Orr ...... 10 2.2 Maria Bergom-Larsson ...... 13 2.3 Marilyn Johns Blackwell ...... 15 2.4 Daniel Humphrey ...... 17 3. Theoretical framework ...... 20 3.1 Central concepts: ideology, ideology critique and moral picture ...... 20 3.2 Narrative Hybridity ...... 22 3.3 Fluidity of subjectivity ...... 25 4. Film analysis: Fanny and Alexander ...... 31 4.1 Narrative ...... 31 4.1.1 Ominous signs of death in the joyous Christmas celebration ...... 31 4.1.2 The blend of the sublime with the scatological ...... 33 4.1.3 Repressed violence in the happy marriage ...... 35 4.2 Character ...... 36 4.2.1 Male character ...... 37 4.2.2 Female character ...... 42 4.2.3 Androgynous character ...... 45 4.3 Music ...... 47 5. Discussion and conclusion ...... 54 6. Bibliography ...... 57

1.Introduction

Bergman has claimed on different occasions that he is a non-political person and he does not have any ideological intention behind his films. As Birgitta Steene observes that Bergman’s main motivation is artistic.1 Although he has been generally criticized in his home country for his bourgeois outlook and lack of social consciousness, I have always been interested in the political implication deeply embedded in Bergman’s films. I suspect that an artist cannot really be an agent free of his society. Since the political messages are not so obvious in Bergman’s case, the more subtle values about his moral standpoint communicated in the films and the formal strategies utilized should be scrutinized. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to investigate the interrelationship between Bergman’s formal features and their ideological implications. In particular, the case study will focus on the five-hour television version of Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander, Ingmar Bergman, 1983) and take a close look on the narrative pattern, depictions of characters and music in order to investigate their ideological functions. The major theme of hybridity of narrative and fluidity/mutability of subjectivity in Bergman’s cinematic vision will be addressed, which together reflect Bergman’s alternative moral picture and function as ideology critique toward the dominant ideology of patriarchy, heteronormative marriage and subject fixity.

1.1 Background and relevance

By way of background to this thesis, I will first analyse how different receptions of Bergman in USA and France have focused on the artistic, metaphysical, psychological and commercial aspects rather than ideological contents, and how the major ideological criticism of Bergman in Sweden has been negative. And Fanny and Alexander is no exception in this regard. The ideological values of Bergman’s films have therefore long been an under-researched area which result in a research gap in Bergman study. At the end of this background I will analyse recent revisions of Bergman and contextualize this study within the contemporary academic framework and cultural contexts to indicate its relevance.

1 Birgitta Steene, Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide. (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2005), 34.

The conception of Bergman is multifaceted. In different countries, different aspects of Bergman are emphasized and evaluated which has led to very different reception patterns. Among foreign countries, Bergman is probably most favorably received in France. In 1947, when Ship to India (Skepp till India land, 1947) becomes the first Bergman film shown in France, Andre Bazin already notices the talent behind the film and praises Bergman for “creating a world of blinding cinematic purity.”2 In 1956, Bergman’s name becomes well known when Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende,1955) receives the Special Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival for “its poetic humor” and this award lays the cornerstone to his international renown.3 In 1958 both Godard and Truffaut write articles to show their respect and appreciation to their Swedish colleague. While Truffaut compares Bergman with the literary giants such as Proust, Joyce and Rousseau, Godard deems Bergman the most original filmmaker in Europe and Illicit Interlude (Sommarlek, 1951) the most beautiful among the five or six best films in cinematic history.4 Both Godard and Truffaut admire the astounding simplicity in Bergman’s aesthetic. The French critics generally receive Bergman as an absolute auteur, praising his literary talent, aesthetic and stylistic technique and his prodigious talent in shaping his actors and actresses. They appreciate Bergman for his contribution to the renaissance of the modern cinema and consider him a forerunner and inspiration for the French filmmakers.5

The reception of Bergman in USA seems to be two-fold. On the one hand, Bergman was utilized as a brand name including a careful construction of his image with commercial considerations. There is the careful timing of the releases of the films, the strategic ad campaigns targeting different segments of the audience and the astute release pattern of Bergman’s films in order to gain maximum revenue from the market.6 In October 1959 five Bergman films are playing simultaneously in New York’s best art houses, setting a record for a foreign film director.7 On the other hand, what appear in major newspapers and magazines is also a composite portrait of Bergman the auteur. The metaphysical ambiguities of Bergman’s films and the artistic vision emphasize his artistic achievement. Acclaimed as Sweden’s one-man new wave, Bergman is even considered as contributing with a corrective

2 Francois Truffaut, The Films of My Life. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975), 258. 3 Steene, 220. 4 Jean-Luc Godard, “Bergmanorama”, in Ingmar Bergman: An Artist’s Journey, edited by Roger W Oliver. (New York: Arcade, 1995), 37. 5 Godard, 39. 6 Tino Balio, “Ingmar Bergman: The Brand”, in The Foreign Film Renaissance on American Screens 1946-1973. (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2010), 144. 7 Ibid., 130.

3 to the international film canon and constituting an antithesis and counterbalance to the hegemony of Hollywood. As Tino Balio observes, Bergman provides a formulation of an individual alternative, representing a new Swedish presence.8

The reception of Bergman in his homeland Sweden is more complicated since scores of texts have been written about his films and he is both celebrated and criticized. While Bergman is considered the preeminent film director and the success abroad does bring him artistic freedom and some power position in Sweden, it is not always that way. As Truffaut observes that Bergman has been treated like “a subversive, blasphemous and irritating schoolboy” in his early career.9 In the 1960s, when the politicized cultural climate dominates the public media in Sweden, Bergman is relentlessly criticized by Bo Widerberg for his apolitical stance and lack of ideology. According to Widerberg, Bergman repeats in his films his personal problematics by making “vertical films” — films which either direct question upward to god or downward to demon; while in real world, “horizontal cinema” — films that relate sideways to people and society — is much more needed.10 By so doing Bergman, according to Widerberg, has neglected his responsibility as an artist.

In the 1970s, Maria Bergom-Larsson criticizes Bergman for his bourgeois outlook and the lack of class perspective in Ingmar Bergman and Society (1978). Bergom-Larsson claims that there is very little realistic description of Swedish society in Bergman’s films and his statements about society is notoriously vague and uncertain.11 Furthermore, Bergom-Larsson criticizes the limitations of Bergman’s subjectivist and individualistic perspective which doesn’t fit the Swedish society so easily.

When it comes to the specific case of Fanny and Alexander, the reception in USA is largely favourable. Among others, the New Yorker calls the film “a learning to live with your craziness movie” and regards the banality depicted in Bergman’s film deeply satisfying and wholesome. And Variety gives the film version of Fanny and Alexander an A-rating.12 In France the reception is also very positive. As Birgitta Steene observes, in the Paris press all reviewers

8 Balio, 133. 9 Truffaut, 254. 10 Tytti Soila, “Sweden”, in Nordic National Cinemas, edited by Tytti Soila, Astrid Söderbergh Widding and Gunnar Iversen. (London and New York: Routledge, 1998), 207. 11 Maria Bergom-Larsson, Ingmar Bergman and Society. (London and New Jersey: The Tantivy Press, 1978), 7. 12 Steene, 333.

4 except one regard Fanny and Alexander as a masterpiece.13 They also emphasize Bergman’s position as an artist.

The reception of Fanny and Alexander is enthusiastic in Sweden, “partly because of the rollicking mood of the film and partly because it was seen as Bergman’s farewell to filmmaking and the summation of his career and vision.”14 In spite of the general positive reception in the Swedish press, there are different views regarding the politics of this film. As Birgitta Steene mentions, some Swedish film critics question the film’s social relevance since it attempts a “flight into pseudo-joy, away from life’s seriousness and anguish and demands on social consciousness and responsibility”; others question the mysterious fantasy elements in the film and criticize the killing of the bishop for reminding of a “real voodoo style.”15 The old suspicion about Bergman’s lack of social consciousness is also reflected in the reviews of Jan Aghed, Stig Larsson and Carl-Eric Nordberg.16 The burlesque story of the patriarchal and sexist world depicted in the film is further criticized for its ignorance of the social consequences.

Bergman himself has claimed on different occasions that he never has any ideological intentions or political passions behind his films.17 He never regards himself as a political filmmaker. It is not surprising that in the field of Bergman studies, the majority research focus on the auteur, artistic, metaphysical, religious, psychological, philosophical aspects or on the Bergman as a brand. As Erik Hedling observes the ideological aspect of Bergman’s films has seldom triggered analysis and where they have, which often happens in Sweden, Bergman has been mostly read negatively from a modernist perspective.18 In the field of Bergman research, relatively few studies have focused on the ideological contents of his films. Therefore, the ideological implication of Bergman’s work has long been an under-researched area and Fanny and Alexander is a case in this regard as its ideological value has seldom be analyzed in depth.

Since ideology and ideological values are not static, in 1990s the Swedish journalist Leif Zern voices a different outlook of Bergman’s ideological implication in Se Bergman (1993). Zern regards Bergman’s film vision as colliding with the dominant social democratic

13 Steene, 333. 14 Ibid., 332. 15 Ibid., 333. 16 Ibid., 332. 17 Erik Hedling, “Ingmar Bergman and Modernity”, In Swedish Film: An Introduction and Reader, edited by Mariah Larsson and Anders Marklund. (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2010), 221. 18 Ibid., 219.

5 ideology of the Swedish well-fare state, providing a critique of modern society.19 Soon after, Marilyn John Blackwell studies Bergman’s films from a feminist perspective and recognizes their positive ideological values in Gender and Representation in the Films of Ingmar Bergman (1997). Different scholars revisit and revalue Bergman in Maaret Koskinen’s Ingmar Bergman Revisited: Performance, Cinema and the Arts (2008). In particular, the third section of the book focuses on certain socio-political territories. Worth mentioning is Erik Hedling’s contribution which read Bergman’s films as a social critique of Swedish welfare society. This trend of revision is also partly reflected in the vast amount of book-length studies and dissertations on Bergman that are listed in Birgitta Steene’s Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide (2005). From 1990 to 2005, when Steene’s book is published, there have been fifty-six book-length studies and dissertations on Bergman registered.20 In recent years, Daniel Humphrey’s Queer Bergman: Sexuality, Gender, and the European Art Cinema (2013) and John Orr’s The Demons of Modernity: Ingmar Bergman and European Cinema (2014) explore the ideological value from different perspectives and they both regard Bergman as a progressive filmmaker.

Although Bergman seems to be more favorably received internationally than domestically during his lifetime, the reception of Bergman is changing in his home country. In 2018, the celebration of Bergman’s Hundred-year Jubilee is considered the biggest for a filmmaker in history and brings back a Bergman-hype in Sweden. Centennial #Bergman100 is accompanied by different cultural events such as film retrospectives, theatrical performances, documentaries, exhibitions, festivals and book releases, showing homage to Ingmar Bergman from his countrymen.21

Thus, my study of the ideological value of Fanny and Alexander seems highly relevant and is situated within the aforementioned contemporary academic framework and cultural contexts.

1.2 Research questions and aims

19 Hedling, 219. 20 Steene, 1072-1074. 21 http://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/press, accessed 23 April 2019.

In this thesis, I intend to focus on Fanny and Alexander and investigate the interrelationship between formal features of narrative, character, music and their ideological functions. Several other Bergman’s films will also be utilized to clarify certain arguments or emphasize different major themes, functioning as a kind of reference or benchmark.

This thesis aims to answer the following questions:

• How does Bergman’s hybrid narrative pattern lay bare a problematic vision of society, provide an alternative moral picture and function as a critique to dominant ideology? • How does Bergman’s depiction of male, female and androgynous characters express the fluidity of subjectivity and what is the ideological function of these characters? • How does Bergman blend music with narrative and how does his unorthodox way of using classical music functions as ideology critique?

Through exploring the formal strategies of narrative, character and music, the intention of this study is to shed more light on the ideological values embedded deeply in these formal traits. Of Bergman’s oeuvre, Fanny and Alexander has never been regarded as a political film and analyzed in depth with an ideological approach, therefore this study also intends to add one more case study to the contemporary academic framework and contribute to a more comprehensive field of Bergman research.

1.3 Materials and methodologies

Primary sources that will be used in this thesis are seven selected Bergman’s films and the manuscript of Fanny and Alexander. The major film used for case study is the five-hour television version of Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander, Ingmar Bergman, 1983). Other films include: The Magician (Ansiktet, Ingmar Bergman, 1958), Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966), Shame (Skammen, Ingmar Bergman, 1968), The Touch (Beröringen, Ingmar Bergman, 1971), From the Life of Marionettes (Ur marionetternas liv, Ingmar Bergman, 1980), Saraband (Ingmar Bergman, 2003).

Fanny and Alexander is the focus of case study and it is chosen for its rich materials that cover the analysis of all the major themes and their relevance to demonstrate the arguments. Other films are chosen with discriminating mind and follow at least one of the

7 following criterions: their narrative structure consist of oppositional elements which reflect a pathologized vision of society; Their depictions of male characters, female characters or androgynous characters show the fluidity of subjectivity from different perspectives; Or the use of music in these film have special ideological functions. On the whole, these supporting films will function as comparison or benchmark and help clarify, support or challenge the arguments.

Furthermore, the manuscript of Fanny and Alexander is used for finding more detailed information on the narration, dialogue and other technical information in order to support a more accurate and thorough film analysis. Since the published manuscript Fanny and Alexander differs from the film, there will be explanations where the contents are different.

Secondary sources for this study include scholarly books, journals and magazines. Not only do they provide theories and concepts to construct the theoretical framework, but also supply this thesis with a range of information on the director, background facts and the production and trade information.

In the construction of the theoretical framework, the following materials have been most valuable: Maria Bergom-Larsson: Ingmar Bergman and Society (1978); Marilyn Johns Blackwell: Gender and Representation in the Films of Ingmar Bergman (1997); Richard Allen and Murray Smith: Film Theory and Philosophy (1997); Maaret Koskinen: Ingmar Bergman Revisited: Performance, Cinema and the Arts (2008); Daniel Humphrey: Queer Bergman: Sexuality, Gender, and the European Art Cinema (2013); John Orr: The Demons of Modernity: Ingmar Bergman and European Cinema (2014); Timothy Corrigan: A Short Guide to Writing about Film (2015).

In the case study of Fanny and Alexander, I have consulted the following materials and found many inspirations: Ingmar Bergman: Fanny and Alexander (1989);22 Birgitta Steene: Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide (2005); Maaret Koskinen and Mats Rohdin: Fanny och Alexander: Ur Ingmar Bergman’s arkiv och hemliga gömmor (2005); Alexis Luko: Sonatas, Screams, and Silence: Music and Sound in the films of Ingmar Bergman (2016).

This thesis encompasses mainly critical writing attuned to ideology, aiming to explore Bergman’s alternative moral picture and the ideological values embedded in various formal

22 The manuscript of Fanny and Alexander is first published in Sweden as Fanny och Alexander in 1979 and this English translation is first published in 1983.

8 strategies. Therefore, a combination of ideological and formalist approaches will be relevant. Of the principal ideological schools of contemporary film criticism, feminist, class and queer studies will be included to analyse the major theme of hybridity of narrative and fluidity of subjectivity. In the analysis of music, formalistic and intermedial approaches will be used in order to find out the interrelationship between music and narrative and their ideological functions.

As Timothy Corrigan shrewdly observes, in writing about film, personal opinion and taste will necessarily become part of the argument. 23 Consequently, one methodological problem arises: How to still maintain a solid critical position and avoid simplistic and arbitrary interpretation in this study? I will follow Corrigan’s suggestion and try to find the proper balance of personal observation and objective evaluation and reflection. In the choice and evaluation of my film material I will relate it to objective factors, such as its place in film history, its cultural background, and its formal strategies and its relevance to the major themes of this study.

In trying to find the relation between Bergman’s formal strategies and their ideological implication, I will balance my film analysis with the support of existing theories, particularly I will pay special attention to such elements that contribute to the formation of an alternative moral picture differently from the dominant ideology. In the case study of Fanny and Alexander, the seemingly contradictory, digressive, fractured, incoherent, fluid elements in the narrative, characterization and music will therefore be foregrounded in order to examine the spectator reaction they have elicited and their ideological function. Together with continuously motivating and explaining the reasons for the interpretations, this study will hopefully avoid a reductive critical approach, simplistic assumption and obtain a more accurate conclusion.

1.4 Disposition of the thesis

This thesis consists of five closely related sections.

The introduction section sets out offering an historical background of the Bergman’s studies and identifies the research gap and clarifies the relevance of this study. This is

23 Timothy Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing about Film. (New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. 2015), 17.

9 followed by a short chapter outlining the research questions and aims, then description of the materials and methodologies and ends by some final observations devoted to the dispositions of the thesis.

The second section will review the literature of mainly four scholars: John Orr, Maria Bergom-Larsson, Marilyn Johns Blackwell and Daniel Humphrey. They have all analysed the ideological aspects of Bergman’s films but from very different perspectives. Orr focuses on the socio-political aspects from a more general approach; Bergom-Larsson utilizes a distinct class and Marxist perspective; while Blackwell focuses on feminist study, Humphrey emphasizes a queer study. This section will summarize their main findings which are relevant to my topics and compare the similarities and differences between them. This section also prepares for the construct of the following theoretical framework.

The theoretical framework section will begin with clarifying the central concepts of ideology, ideology critique and moral picture based on Hector Rodriguez’s theories. This section will also outline two major themes based on the literature review of the aforementioned Bergman scholars: hybridity of narrative and fluidity of subjectivity, which together reflect Bergman’s alternative moral picture and function as ideology critique toward dominant ideology.

The fourth section offers an in-depth analysis of Fanny and Alexander, which focuses on narrative pattern, different characters and music. For clarity, this analysis corresponds to the structure of the major themes of the theoretical framework. The intention is to investigate the interrelationship between formal features and their ideological implications and explore how Bergman utilizes different strategies to express certain values and lay bare his critique and ambivalence toward dominant ideology.

Lastly, some final lines are devoted to summarizing the main findings and offering some suggestions to future Bergman studies.

2. Literature review

I have chosen to review the indispensable literature of four scholars who share the similar interests in the ideological aspect of Bergman: John Orr, Maria Bergom-Larsson, Marilyn Johns Blackwell and Daniel Humphrey. Their texts are published between 1978 to 2014 and are written from very different perspectives and hence give different insights. While Orr focuses on the socio-political aspects from a more general approach, Bergom-Larsson utilizes a distinct class and Marxist perspective. Blackwell focuses on feminist study and Humphrey writes from a queer perspective. Therefore, from different perspectives, their readings of Bergman distinguish themselves from previous biographically, metaphysically, psychologically and religiously tinted readings.

This section will summarize their main findings which have been crucial to this study. It is mainly based on their theories and concepts that the theoretical framework of this thesis is formed. It is worth highlighting that Erik Hedling’s written material has also been essential to the construction of the theoretical framework, specifically with regard to the Swedish welfare state. Nevertheless, it will not be singled out as a subchapter here due to the limitation of the research scope. Rather his findings will be mentioned in the following chapter. For the same reason, Hector Rodriguez’s concepts of ideology, ideology critique and moral picture will also be summarized in the theoretical framework section.

2.1 John Orr

Among the vast number of Bergman scholars, John Orr attracts my attention and interests by his complex and fresh reading of the ideological values in Bergman’s films. Despite Bergman’s famous disclaimer of any political intention and the verdicts of his critics, in his book The Demons of Modernity Orr problematizes the notion of the auteur as a sort of free agent and claims that “it is possible to read politics into Bergman’s films.”24

Through the notion of the demons of modernity, Orr puts the socio-political aspect of Bergman’s films into focus and recontextualizes them in contemporary socio-political

24 John Orr, The Demons of Modernity: Ingmar Bergman and European Cinema. (New York and Oxford: Berghahnbooks, 2014), 10.

11 discourse. Most inspirationally, Orr’s notion of the demons of modernity is manifest in Bergman’s ambivalence toward modernity and the blend of the secular and metaphysical in his filmmaking which are essential issues to this study.

Orr claims that Bergman is a shrewd and honest observer of the contemporary world and his cinematic vision contains “a mass of contradictions”.25 Not only is there the blend of materialistic with metaphysical and sublime with the scatological but also, stylistically, the tragic is often blended with the comic. As Orr notices, the narrative is oblique, the plot is unresolved, and ambiguity often lies in dialogue, gesture and cut. In Bergman world, the malaise of intimacy manifest itself most prominently in the blend of oppositional elements such as compassion and cruelty. And various themes such as humiliation, desire, bitterness, regret, pride and lucidity manifest the rawness of emotional being.26 According to Orr, the micro power struggles from intimate life reflect an alternative morality which undercut the ideology of (welfare) care that dominates European democratic societies. Consequently, “all pure idealism in politics or religion has been gutted of its powers” by Bergman’s cinematic vision of this “two-faced modernity.”27

Furthermore, the demons of modernity function at the very heart of bourgeois civility and manifest themselves in the Bergman’s bourgeois characters, mostly male characters — rational and progressive professionals — where the demonic forces incubate and thrive. Orr recognizes that Bergman’s subject has many different faces and each face has a parallel truth and makes sense. According to Orr, Bergman’s characters should be regarded as a balance of sorts to all this. Not only are their identities not fixed but also there are no clear dividing lines between these identities. As a result, these troubled subjects are half inside their culture of civility but half outside it as well — “In and out, a deadly formula.”28

Thirdly, the demon of modernity manifest itself through the “seamless fusion of cinematic style and theme” in Bergman’s films.29 Stylistically, from the dark depressed cityscape in the early films to the later barren landscape and seascape, Bergman’s aesthetic often lacks the traditional Swedish landscape idyll and normal surroundings. Either Bergman’s vision remains primarily in black and white or when in colour, the colour is

25 Orr, 21. 26 Ibid., 64. 27 Ibid., 13. 28 Ibid., 17. 29 Ibid., 44.

12 drained out and desaturated.30 Orr claims that this barren isolated landscape resonates very well with the great loneliness Bergman detects in the Swedish psyche, since “the desolate modern soul is played out on Swedish landscapes at their most severe visual form.”31

In his essay “Bergman, Nietzsche and Hollywood”, Orr delves deeper and traces two antithetical sources of inspiration that Bergman has absorbed into his artistic bloodstream, namely the popular culture of Hollywood comedy and the elitist philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Orr regards the love of Hollywood comedy and the European genius as contributing to Bergman’s emergent persona which is manifest in his filmmaking as “a strange and uncanny blending”, both stylistically and thematically.32

Among the Hollywood influences, Orr has recognized “Buster Keaton, film noir, Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Curtiz” as Bergman’s sources of inspiration.33 And the themes Bergman borrows from the American popular culture are manifested in the notion of “comedy of remarriage” and the role rotation of performing.34 In these comedies, Bergman often relies on the pairing of Gunnar Björnstrand and Eva Dahlbeck with Dahlbeck representing a modern woman — “feisty, determined, independent and above all equal protagonists to their male counterparts.”35 As Orr observes, different from the light-hearted Hollywood comedy, Bergman endows his sense of comedy with a profoundly pronounced spiritual abjectness which may reflect the darker influence of Nietzsche. According to Orr, “in Bergman, humiliation is for real and lingers through the elegant acting-out of a perfect burlesque. It is a humiliation that never wavers or diminishes.”36

Generally, Orr regards Bergman’s cinematic vision progressive since Bergman had been “refreshingly down to earth in displaying the grounded, performative, and often comic aspects of modernity.” Also, through probing the fragile nature of European civilization, Bergman according to Orr, is “a model for others who sought to do likewise.”37

30 Orr, 17. 31 Ibid., 17. 32 John Orr, “Bergman, Nietzsche and Hollywood”, in Ingmar Bergman Revisited: Performance, Cinema and the Arts, edited by Maaret Koskinen. (London and New York: Wallflower Press, 2008), 144. 33 Ibid., 144. 34 Ibid., 145. 35 Ibid., 145. 36 Ibid., 148. 37 John orr, The Demons of Modernity: Ingmar Bergman and European Cinema. (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2014), 31.

2.2 Maria Bergom-Larsson

Maria Bergom-Larsson is among the first critics to analyse in depth Bergman’s ideological relationship to the society. At first glance, Bergom-Larsson seems to take a polemical stance and analyse Bergman and his films predominantly from a Marxist and class perspective, and this leads to her somewhat ambivalent attitude toward the ideological value in Bergman’s work.

On the one hand, Bergom-Larsson stresses how Bergman lacks class perspective and is pervasively bourgeois and reactionary. Accordingly, bourgeois ideology is internalised in the mind of Bergman and has limited his cinematic vision. This limitation according to Bergom-Larsson is manifested in Bergman’s characters and his depiction of Swedish daily life.38 In Bergman’s artistic activity, the socio-political aspects is an inconsequential and subordinate aspect and “what is specific and unique about Bergman’s films is not their relationship with society.”39 Bergom-Larsson’s somewhat negative attitude seems to prevent her from seeing the more progressive elements of Bergman’s work. It is nevertheless worth mentioning that when Bergom-Larsson’s book published in 1978, she doesn’t have access to Bergman’s later work.

On the other hand, Bergom-Larsson is conscious that class perspective may result in an unfair and one-sided picture of Bergman. She points out that Bergman’s firm attachment to the personal aspect does not mean that his films are by any means private. On the contrary, the fact that the issues Bergman depicts are firmly rooted in his personal experience often lends his films “a rare intensity and psychological credibility” since “it is not the historical truth of these reminiscences which is of principal interest but the psychological truth.”40 Furthermore, She recognizes Bergman’s obsessive confrontations with his bourgeois background and regards his ambivalent love/hate relationship with his bourgeois environment still as having some progressive elements.41 Most positively she concludes her book with the following lines: Bergman’s bourgeois background “does not prevent him from using his

38 Maria Bergom-Larsson, Ingmar Bergman and Society. (London and New Jersey: The Tantivy Press, 1978), 114. 39 Ibid., 7. 40 Ibid., 12. 41 Ibid., 11.

14 extreme subjectivity as a sensitive instrument to lay bare the anatomy of the bourgeois consciousness with tremendous perspicacity.”42

There are different female and male types and stereotypes represented in Bergman’s films and Bergom-Larsson divides them into natural beings and social beings. Her nuanced analysis contributes to the theoretical framework of this study and is invaluable to the character analysis in my case study.

According to Bergom-Larsson, woman in Bergman’s films almost without exception constitutes nature.43 As a natural being, her principal female role is mother and wife and often this mother-wife character possesses a natural and non-neurotic integrity and represents an elemental natural power. Woman who rejects her natural role is often condemned and a successful career is not something a woman should strive for because “her chief way of achieving self-fulfilment is through a relationship with a man with the aim of having children — never in a professional relationship.”44

In the meantime, Bergom-Larsson seems to recognize that Bergman’s picture of natural women is somewhat idealised because often this archetype of wife is unable to protect her husband from the demons’ destructive force. So Bergom-Larsson raises the interesting question: “Did she (the wife) love him (the husband) too much or too little?”45 Furthermore, in the intimate relationship, woman’s dependence on her husband also make her vulnerable and hampers her development. Bergom-Larsson nevertheless notices some progressive elements in Bergman’s female characters, since they may develop their social roles while their natural roles can be demolished, and this process may lead to woman’s liberation, strength and personal growth.

Bergom-Larsson regards Bergman’s portrayal of the intellectual male characters as mirroring his conception of the deformed male social roles, often represented by professionals, scientists, authorities and critics. According to Bergom-Larsson, male characters have much more important social roles to play and they often find self-fulfilment in the social sphere in Bergman’s vision. She claims: “their (male social roles) blind belief in science, reason, progress and rationality often make them emotionally handicapped and quite

42 Bergom-Larsson, 116. 43 Ibid., 29. 44 Ibid., 34. 45 Ibid., 36.

15 out of touch with their hermetically sealed emotional life.”46 Often these male characters have successful careers, manifesting self-assurance and complacency but at the same time also show a calculative and exploitative view of life.

The male natural beings are according to Bergom-Larsson much less glamorously depicted in Bergman’s films than female characters. They are often depicted as “children and dolls” — middle-aged boy who simply cannot grow up — behind their social masks.47 To conceal his insecurity and weakness deep down inside him, man is compelled to assume various social roles and wear different masks. There is something tragicomic about these “children with genitals” when Bergman depict their vulnerable dignity and masculinity.48

According to Bergom-Larsson, Bergman seems to show signs of a social understanding of these male and female natural/social roles. It is ultimately their parents who moulded them in accordance with their ambitions instead of letting them develop their own inherent potentialities.49 Hence, the woman is deformed by her mother’s demands for her to be meek and obliging and the man strives to realise his father’s dreams and ambitions of a career. Bergom-Larsson further indicates that although Bergman is too integrated to be able to speak of a critical perspective against bourgeois ideology, it is still possible to sense a criticism against the ideological superstructure of the division between social roles and natural roles from Bergman’s uncompromisingly honest depiction.

2.3 Marilyn Johns Blackwell

Marilyn Johns Blackwell reads Bergman’s films from a feminist critical perspective and regards Bergman very positively as a progressive filmmaker. Blackwell utilizes a contextualized approach and assesses Bergman’s oeuvre in light of the contributions of the feminist film theoretical debate of the past fifteen years, as she writes this book in the mid- 1990s, in order to establish the methodology for analysis of the individual filmic texts.50

46 Bergom-Larsson, 37. 47 Ibid., 39. 48 Ibid., 37. 49 Ibid., 41. 50 Marilyn Johns Blackwell, Gender and Representation in the Films of Ingmar Bergman. (Columbia: Camden House, 1997), 5.

Furthermore, Blackwell locates individual films within the director’s career-long project of cultural criticism and tries to examine each film as cultural product. Given the prominence of women and feminist issues throughout Bergman’s production, Blackwell regards the feminist reading of his films worth reassessment and expansion.

Blackwell observes that Bergman’s films depict a culture that fails the people who inhabit it and “mirror both a crisis in and an ambivalence toward Western culture, a disruption and re-inscription of cultural notions of different.”51 She uses the notion of cultural criticism which resonates very well with John Orr’s notion of the demons of modernity and modern malaise. Both scholars have suggested that Bergman’s honest and relentless vision of modern society lays bare the traces of the pathologized intimate relationship, heterosexual marriage, divine family and hence function as savage critique of the western culture and patriarchal ideology. Different from John Orr, Blackwell utilizes the issues of gender as her focus and claims that these gender issues function as “a kind of nexus” from which Bergman treat the “dehumanizing effect of various cultural institutions on those marginalized by that culture.”52

Blackwell’s analyses of Bergman’s representation of female subjectivity is also crucial to my research. According to Blackwell, Bergman takes woman seriously and his portrait of female characters have a disturbing richness and complexity. In the following I will summarize two representative female experiences, namely the sense of otherness and gender amorphism, which has been crucial to this study.

Women have historically experienced the social, cultural, and ideological marginalization and therefore the representation of women usually connote the sense of otherness. It is maybe not so surprising that Bergman’s films expose a deeply embedded sense of otherness in female experience. Blackwell finds it most provocative in Bergman’s “attempt to privilege, to grant authority to the other” and “to create universal human subjectivities within the bodies of women.”53 According to Blackwell, this may reflect Bergman’s ambivalence toward the androcentric culture. Blackwell further claims that otherness is a position that Bergman sees himself as occupying.

The foregrounding of the otherness has a radical ideological function since it both legitimizes and challenges the patriarchal status quo and the effect is unsettling. Blackwell

51 Blackwell, 1. 52 Ibid., 2. 53 Ibid., 10.

17 recognizes Bergman’s negotiation between the dominant ideology and the marginalized ideology by arguing: “Throughout his (Bergman’s) career, […] he confronts and struggles against androcentric values at the same time that he passionately longs for reabsorption into a godhead and the comfort and solace of a perfect mother.”54 Therefore, Blackwell regards Bergman’s work as individually and collectively paradoxical and ambivalent.

The mutability of subjectivity is prominent in Bergman’s characters. From a feminist perspective, Blackwell analyses Bergman’s representation of cross-dressing and its effect of problematizing the fixity of gender and subjectivity. Blackwell claims, “if a fixed subjectivity and a gendered subjectivity are, according to the dominant ideology, one and the same, then the collapse of either entails the dissolution of the other.”55 Since clothing articulates prevalent sex roles in a given society, instances of cross-dressing can serve to challenge the dominant ideology in that society.56 In Bergman’s films, both male and female characters use cross-dressing to emphasizes gender as performance. Subject fixity is depicted as false construct and the effect can be threatening and subversive. Also, in many Bergman’s films, the patriarchal authority is corrupt or lost. Female intimacy and the appearance of androgynous characters suggest transgression of gender boundaries and pose threat for androcentric culture.

According to Blackwell, although Bergman is not avowedly a feminist, his filmmaking often coincides with feminist practice.57 There are various feminist themes and issues represented in Bergman’s films, both ideologically and formally. Bergman’s films may not aspire to be feminist, nevertheless they encourage feminist experience and reading by undermining and deconstructing certain aspects of dominant male discourse.58

2.4 Daniel Humphrey

Daniel Humphrey has investigated the queerness of subjectivity in Bergman’s films and deems Bergman as an unrecognized queer ally. Humphrey argues for the value of a queer

54 Blackwell, 24-25. 55 Ibid., 29. 56 Ibid., 28. 57 Ibid., 26. 58 Ibid., 11.

18 perspective and encourages a continued reappraisal of Bergman’s films from a queer vantage point. Although a decidedly heterosexual filmmaker, Bergman’s expression of selfhood according to Humphrey can be read queerly from a queer perspective.

Similar with Orr and Blackwell, Humphrey recognizes that Bergman’s construction of a brutal and problematic vision of heterosexual marriage and child rearing unmask an untenable pathologized form of heterosexuality.59 According to Humphrey, Bergman’s honest vision of patriarchal heteronormativity has challenged the discourses and institutions that naturalized the construction of gender and sexual identity, hence has offered a profound critique of the conventional ideal of patriarchal ideology. The films’ queer power lies in the uncompromising honesty which manifests itself in the radical force of the narrative and thematic content. By artistic unmasking of an untenable reality, Bergman according to Humphrey posits a queer consciousness.60

Humphrey claims that many of Bergman films have a positive, unacknowledged role in the radicalization of our understandings of sexuality and gender role. According to Humphrey, different forms of gender deconstruction, manifested in androgynous characters, genderless sexual desire and homosexuality in Bergman’s films also problematize and challenge the long tradition of homophobia within narrative cinema, therefore has served as a kind of progressive cultural work and played an important role in queer culture.

Humphrey has a shrewd analysis of male character’ reactions in the face of androgynous character and how another’s queerness can threaten one’s own normalcy.61 In The Magician, Vergerus, the representative of patriarchal social power, loses his masculine mastery when faced with queerly androgynous magician Vogler. He tries to examine, humiliate and persecute this nonnormative outsider. Humphrey regards these scenes as carrying many charges of meanings. They may suggest Vergerus’ deeply harboured queer desire, his sense of illegibility, his refusal of opacity and his own sense of uncanny disequilibrium born of the visitors’ presence.62 As an established physician, he shows his cruelty toward the magician but at the same time he is also ridiculed by Vogler’s revenge. In

59 Daniel Humphrey, Queer Bergman: Sexuality, Gender, and the European Art Cinema. (Austin: Texas University Press, 2013), 4. 60 Ibid., 7. 61 Ibid., 123. 62 Ibid., 120.

19 the final twist, when the call from the king comes, it is Vogler, the non-normative outsider who wins.

In his analysis of another male character, Peter Egermann, in From the Life of the Marionettes, Humphrey suggests that the possible reason for Egermann’s killing of the prostituted woman is due to the untenability of the repression of his deeply buried homosexuality that eventually lead to his emotional breakdown. This is an example of the physical violence occasioned by gender difference and sex roles. According to Humphrey’s analysis, Egermann is in a way, a victim of the upbringing and this plot can be taken as a criticism of the heteronormative social order. 63 Peter Egermann is a cruel killer but also a vulnerable victim. Here we sense some resonance with Bergom-Larsson’s analysis of Bergman’s social understanding of the characters’ social roles.

The vulnerability of male character is most strongly communicated in the character of Johan in Saraband. The scene when an aged Johan strips off his nightshirt, fully exposes his aged body and crawls into bed with his ex-wife Marianne in the middle of the night after suffering from a nightmare, is suggestive. As Humphrey claims, “it is a moment that communicates a strong sense of male vulnerability.”64 Literally, Johan exposes his aged body and metaphorically his long-hidden vulnerable inner-self to Marianne and the audience. Therefore, it is a moment of both revelation and reconciliation.

According to Humphrey, the radical force of the narrative, the depiction of character and thematic content in Bergman’s films has not diminished throughout the years. In fact, the queer power manifested in Bergman’s films is still unsettled and unsettling.

63 Humphrey, 170. 64 Ibid., 169.

3. Theoretical framework

3.1 Central concepts: ideology, ideology critique and moral picture

In the field of cinema studies, there has never been a general consensus regarding the concept of ideology. At different times and in different societies, the concept of ideology may vary and have different meanings. For example, the classical Marxist theory regards ideology as “false ideas whose deficiencies are `a product of truth-distorting social force´.”65 This polemic “false consciousness model” is still upheld by some film scholars but is also criticized for its mis-presentation of the role that ideological thinking play in our lives “by claiming it as comprised exclusively of false assertions.”66

Less polemically, Timothy Corrigan explains ideology as “a more subtle and expansive way of saying politics, […]if we think of politics as the ideas or beliefs on which we base our lives and our vision of the world.”67 According to him, films are never innocent visions of the world. Rather, they are cultural products or creations which carry, implicitly or explicitly, ideological meanings. Following this line of thinking, the personal and social values reflected in a film, the moral and ideological import of experiences offered by a film, even the more subtle and less definitive politics of a film, need to be scrutinized.68

In the middle of these two aforementioned definitions, Hector Rodriguez describes ideology as “distinct configurations of moral thoughts, emotions, and practices that play a part in a situation of domination.”69 His claim foregrounds two things: there is a moral dimension built into the concept of ideology; and ideology has a dominant power position. Following his line of thought, to uphold an ideology involves the practice of domination which means that one group of agents place another group in a subordinate or marginal position, whatever the reason. Furthermore, to sustain this position of domination, ideology needs to be

65 Hector Rodriguez, “Ideology and Film Culture”, in Film Theory and Philosophy, edited by Richard Allen and Murray Smith. ( Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), 260. 66 Ibid., 261. 67 Corrigan, 96. 68 Ibid., 97. 69 Rodriguez, 268-269.

21 systematically institutionalized, by rules or practices of a community or organization. Consequently, ideology is in some sense distorted by the pattern of social power and is morally unjustifiable, undesirable or unworthy.70

Rodriguez also proposes that “ideology critique is a species of moral persuasion, mainly concerned with the normative evaluation of certain ways of thinking, feeling and acting that have a bearing on our social institutions.”71 According to him, ideology critique “brings out the pictures that undergird a certain pattern of social and political commitment, so as to reveal something morally undesirable about those pictures and that commitment.”72 And a central aim of ideology critique is to assess the legitimacy of subordinated ideology. Hence his concepts implicitly indicate that “ideology” is always “dominant ideology” and “ideology critique” reflect the standpoints of “subordinated ideology”.

Furthermore, when it comes to the medium of film, Rodriguez claims that “narrative fiction can itself criticize an ideology by presenting an alternative moral picture, a different set of feelings and attitudes” and “a narrative film can criticize an ideology by expressing a paradigm of discernment that runs counter to dominant forms of representation.”73 Rodriguez uses the term of “moral picture” to refer to the underlying configuration of moral thought, perception and feeling expressed in the action.74 According to Rodriguez’s theory, “the practice of ideology critique does not necessarily rest on judgements of truth and falsehood.”75 Instead of being dependent on factual information and logical norms, Rodriguez’s ideology critique is more a moral matter. What a filmmaker’s moral picture looks like reflects his moral commitment and standpoint.

Rodriguez’s concepts of ideology, ideology critique and moral picture suit very well for my purpose in analyzing the ideological function in Bergman’s films. According to Rodriguez, morality is not necessarily a mere application of general rules or the assessment of propositions, nor is it simply an intellectual grasp of them. Rather, it is more a matter of our ability to observe, give attention and respond to morally salient or ethical features of a situation.76 As I mentioned in the previous chapter, different scholars have noticed that Bergman is a shrewd and honest observer of society. Through his observation, sensitive

70 Rodriguez, 260. 71 Ibid., 260. 72 Ibid., 277. 73 Ibid., 271. 74 Ibid., 268. 75 Ibid., 266. 76 Ibid., 268.

22 discernment and foregrounding of various otherwise suppressed contradictory elements, he gives a morally appropriate response in complex situations, with imagination and feeling, and therefore achieves moral insight and virtue.

Also, Rodriguez claims that morality, moral insight or moral vision are not necessarily the product of conscious reflection or conscious choice. What matters in moral instances is the moral vision reflected in “the texture of conduct” and “the enduring traits of character and/or culture.”77 Namely, “those ways of acting and living that manifest underlying attitudes towards the world, towards ourselves, and towards others […] the emotional and imaginative quality, the richness and sincerity and complexity, the overall tonality and creativity, of one’s moral work and one’s enduring traits of character.”78 Even this point resonates with Bergman’s practice very well. As I mentioned before, Bergman has never claimed to be a political filmmaker or have an ideology. But that does not prevent him from expressing his moral vision through the recurrent features of hybridity of contradictory elements and the fluidity of subjectivity in his cinematic vision. I will argue that these recurrent features manifest Bergman’s moral picture, provide an alternative ideological framework and function as ideology critique toward dominant ideology.

3.2 Narrative Hybridity

Bergman’s ideology critique toward dominant ideology have been analysed by different scholars, using slightly different notions and concepts. John Orr utilizes the notion of the demons of modernity and claims that Bergman’s films function as social critique and expresses his ambivalence toward modernity. Orr recognizes Bergman as a mass of contradictions and implicitly indicates that the hybridity of and balance between various contradictory elements in Bergman’s vision contribute to his ideological power. Specifically, Erik Hedling regards Bergman’s film as critique toward the Swedish welfare state by focusing on “the other” — the subordinated ideology: those existential problems that the welfare state has repressed.79 Blackwell has also noticed that “narrative is deeply ideologically

77 Rodriguez, 268. 78 Ibid., 267. 79 Erik Hedling, “Ingmar Bergman and Modernity”, In Swedish Film: An Introduction and Reader, edited by Mariah Larsson and Anders Marklund. (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2010), 220.

23 implicated.”80 In the case of Bergman, Blackwell regards Bergman’s honest mirroring of reality as a disruption and reinscription of cultural notions of difference. Blackwell uses the notion of social criticism and regards Bergman’s films as mirroring both a crisis in and an ambivalence toward Western culture. From a queer perspective, Daniel Humphrey regards Bergman’s brutal cinematic vision as unmasking the untenability of the patriarchal heteronormativity, hence, offers a critique of the underling ideology.

All these scholars recognize the radical force concealed in the narrative of Bergman’s films. According to Orr, the demons of modernity manifest in Bergman’s depiction of intimate relationships with the blend of contradictory elements. In Bergman’s narration, compassion is revealed at the heart of cruelty while cruelty lies at the heart of compassion. And Orr shrewdly observes that “while Bergman often has an unerring gift for revealing compassion at the heart of cruelty, he equally has a gift for insinuating indifference or cruelty at the heart of compassion.”81 Often, there are power struggles and role reversals in intimate relation —between lovers, between spouses, between siblings, between parents and children, manifesting love in spite of hate and care in spite of cruelty. This blend of contradictions, according to Orr, results in that “all pure idealism in politics or religion has been gutted of its powers by Bergman’s vision of this perfidious modernity.”82 Apart from some early films which depict working class life, the most part of Bergman’s oeuvre focuses on contemporary middle-class life. According to Orr, “it is mainly the contemporary world — bourgeois and prosperous but full of risk and sorrow […] that brings forth the most tragic and disturbing of his films.83 This complexity and hybridity of contradictory elements undercut the ideology of welfare care that dominates European democratic societies and deviate from the dominant ideology.

Erik Hedling focuses on the neglected socio-political aspect of Bergman research and explores the relationship between Bergman’s films and the Swedish welfare society. He recognizes that both early and late Bergman depict the authorities and dominant ideology with the utmost suspicion. He agrees with Leif Zern in that “Bergman is no social poet, but his stories hit society in the guts.”84 Also, the barren, cold, greyish landscape depicted in Bergman’s films has, according to Hedling, deconstructed the long tradition of idyllic

80 Blackwell, 11. 81 John orr, The Demons of Modernity: Ingmar Bergman and European Cinema. (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2014), 20. 82 Ibid., 13. 83 Ibid., 14. 84 Hedling, 222.

Swedish landscape, therefore functions as a social critique of modern Swedish society.85 Furthermore, Hedling mentions several striking aspects of Bergman’s narrative, such as the aversion towards modernity and its technological innovations. Some details in this kind of anti-modern narrative structure include the ill-omened depiction of railway and trains, ominous telephones and the lack of social engineering and absence of a home. And Hedling concludes by citing Zern that “Bergman’s tragic view of life is out of phase with the Swedish social development.”86

Blackwell recognizes Bergman’s ambivalence toward western culture by claiming that there is a cultural criticism played out in Bergman’s films through the mirroring of a crisis. According to Blackwell, “from Torment in 1944 […] to Fanny and Alexander in 1984 (sic), virtually all his works depict a culture that fails the people who inhabit it either by being pathetically inadequate to a representation or fulfilment of their needs and desires or else by ravaging them, destroying all that might potentially bear meaning in their lives.”87 From a feminist perspective, Blackwell recognizes another significant aspect of the cultural criticism as the concentration of position of women in cultural contexts. In most of Bergman’s films women protagonists replace men and become the focus. Blackwell claims that Bergman’s oeuvre provides “a rich opportunity for an examination of the relationship between ideology, apparatus and discourse.”88

Daniel Humphrey analyses Bergman’s ideological value from a totally different queer perspective. According to Humphrey, partly because of Bergman’s brutal vision of patriarchal heteronormativity and artistic unmasking of an untenable reality, he posits a savage critique of the workings of patriarchy and raises a queer consciousness. According to Humphrey, Bergman has constructed an impressive but very problematic cinematic vision and pathologized form of heterosexuality, one that ultimately expresses the untenability of Western patriarchal ideology.89 Furthermore, Humphrey recognizes the obstinate recurrence of certain narrative and relationship structures and he cites Wood: “life under such neurotic conditions in which it is lived is intolerable.”90

85 Erik Hedling, “The Welfare State Depicted: Post-Utopian Landscapes in Ingmar Bergman’s Films”, in Ingmar Bergman Revisited: Performance, Cinema and the Arts, edited by Maaret Koskinen. (London and New York: Wallflower Press, 2008), 191. 86 Erik Hedling, “Ingmar Bergman and Modernity”, In Swedish Film: An Introduction and Reader, edited by Mariah Larsson and Anders Marklund. (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2010), 227. 87 Blackwell, 1-2. 88 Ibid., 2. 89 Humphrey, 4. 90 Ibid., 2.

These scholars all recognize the radical force of the Bergman’s narrative and thematic content and its ideological function, whether they use the concept of social critique, culture criticism or ideology critique. In Bergman’s seemingly affluent, prosperous and harmonious bourgeois milieu, there is recurrent theme of repression, violence, contempt, ridicule and humiliation. Bergman’s cinematic vision presents consistently contradictory or even oppositional elements and details. According these scholars, Bergman’s honest and relentless vision of modern society lays bare the traces of the pathologized intimate relationship, heterosexual marriage, divine family and patriarchal ideology, reflecting his alternative moral picture which goes against the dominant representation and hence functions as savage critique of the western culture and patriarchal ideology. Bergman’s moral picture also plants a seed of doubt into the audience and the viewers are invited to react against or question the legitimacy of this dominant ideology.

3.3 Fluidity of subjectivity

The fluidity or mutability of subjectivity is another prominent characteristic in Bergman’s film vision which contribute to its ideological power. As Marilyn Johns Blackwell observes: in Bergman’s vision, people “split, double, redouble, evaporate, combine, flow out, are assembled together.”91 According to Blackwell, Bergman’s entire production is dedicated to “an exploration of the constitution and construction of human subjectivity […] in his attempt to unravel the workings of human subjectivity.”92

Resonant with Blackwell’s point of view, other scholars have also claimed that Bergman’s characters oscillate between different identities and have fluid roles. John Orr states that in Bergman’s films “God and Devil are two sides of the same coin” which inhabit every human being. 93 Orr’s observation of this oscillation between different elements in human identity has a resonance with the complexity of human nature and the phenomena of the loss of identity of postmodernism.

Maria Bergom-Larsson, on the other hand, divides Bergman’s characters as natural beings and social beings and she recognizes that these roles are not static. These characters,

91 Blackwell, 41. 92 Ibid., 29. 93 Orr, 10.

26 both male and female, may develop their social roles and their natural roles can be demolished. This process, in which characters dare to live their own life, may lead to liberation, independence, strength and personal development.

From a queer perspective, Daniel Humphrey addresses the same issue of the fluidity of subjectivity differently. According to Humphrey, some of Bergman’s films provide a filmic vision of sexual possibilities and alternative gender configuration, most evidently through the androgynous forms of subjectivity, hence functioning as gender deconstruction. In Humphrey’s investigation of the queerness of subjectivity in Bergman’s films, he demonstrates how another’s queerness can threaten one’s own sense of normalcy and awake fear and fear-induced actions. He also addresses the issue of the fragile and vulnerable nature of masculinity. Another shrewd observation is the repressed homosexuality and its destructive consequence. In Bergman’s cinematic vision repression is often connected to patriarchal hierarchy and social intolerance. Humphrey regards these depictions of characters as having “the impressive feat of emasculating the representative of patriarchal social power.”94

Many other scholars have also noticed the subjective sexual fluctuation in Bergman and his work. Maaret Koskinen claims that “the constitution and construction of human subjectivity in Bergman’s film is oscillating between the poles of masculinity and femininity.”95 Peter Cowie has also observed the homosexual or bisexual feeling in Bergman’s persona and his films.96 Even Bergman himself has acknowledged this deep- seated division within himself as he claims that “I have been during my life both Alma and Elisabet,” expressing his division between conformity and nonconformity to the sexual and gender conventions. 97

In Bergman’s depiction, male characters’ complexity and fluid identity are firstly manifested in John Orr’s so-called male bourgeois subjects — rational professional characters: on the one hand they are caring, progressive and just, on the other hand they incubate the demonic forces. Not surprisingly these male characters are delighted by occasional angels and tormented by a multitude of demons. And consequently, the rational bourgeois subjects can never win the battle because, as Orr observes, that Bergman’s major figures are true psychic gladiators, “only half-protected by the emblazoned shields of faith or

94 Humphrey, 123. 95 Koskinen as quoted in Ibid., 4. 96 Cowie as quoted in Ibid., 15. 97 Robin Wood, “Persona Revisited”, in Sexual Politics and Narrative Film: Hollywood and Beyond, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), 225.

27 reason.”98 According to Orr, Bergman’s subjects are in truth never fully barbarians nor are they fully rational beings. “They oscillate between one end of the spectrum and the other, unable to abandon the primitive for the cultivated or the cultivated for the primitive.”99 Bergman wants to pinpoint the moment at which the rational bourgeois subject defaults. John Orr’s analysis of Bergman’s bourgeois male subject has some resonance with Bergom- Larsson’s analysis of Bergman’s conception of the socially deformed male role, often represented by professionals, scientists, authorities and critics.

In another type of male character — the male artist — Bergman demonstrates that the troubled subject can reverse his role and in turn be perpetrator and victim, reflecting the power struggle involved in different relations. In Bergman’s only obvious war film Shame, Orr observes that the thin line drawn between partisan and quisling are so fragile that “the respectable bourgeois quickly become refugees” and “the lineaments of their assured social life ripped to pieces” and things they take for granted fall apart.100 And the male protagonist Johan, the kind, caring husband and talented artist, eventually becomes a cold-blooded killer.

In Bergom-Larsson’s analysis of natural roles and social roles, male characters have much more important social roles to play than female characters and they often find self- fulfilment in the social sphere. Male characters’ natural roles are much less glamorously depicted in Bergman’s films — they are often depicted as “children and dolls” behind their social masks.101 To conceal the insecure child and weakness deep down inside him, man is compelled by society to assume various social roles and wear different masks.

When it comes to the depictions of female characters, Birgitta Steene argues that Bergman uses women as a subjective metaphor for his personal psyche and “projects, through his women characters, his own personal mythos […] Women become Bergman’s personae — his alter egos and his protective mask.”102 Blackwell makes a similar observation and claims that woman becomes “a kind of nexus from which he (Bergman) can treat the dehumanizing effect of various cultural institutions on those marginalized by that culture.”103 According to Blackwell, Bergman experiences himself as an artist marginalized by a dominant bourgeois society, resonating with the subordinated position that women occupy in western cultural

98 Orr, 27. 99 Ibid., 18. 100 Ibid., 20. 101 Bergom-Larsson, 39. 102 Blackwell, 3. 103 Ibid., 2.

28 representation. In effect, Bergman identify with women as victims and his films expose a deeply embedded sense of otherness in female experience.104 Furthermore, Blackwell recognizes the fragmentation and mutability of female subjectivity as representative aspects of female experiences in Bergman’s vision.

Fluidity of subjectivity manifests itself in Bergman’s female characters in different ways. John Orr notices the role reversal and power struggle between the female characters of Alma and Elisabet in Persona. While the patient Elisabet’s silence begin to dominate the talkative nurse Alma, the long confessions from the carer, instead of the patient, cause a change in power relations between them. As Orr mentions: “instead of the talking cure, the spoken word signifies a growing departure from sanity — the growing madness of the carer as the patient becomes calculating and sane”, hence the role reversals between the carer and the patient.105

Bergom-Larsson divides different types of female characters in Bergman’s films into natural roles and social roles. According to Bergom-Larsson, Bergman seems to have an ambivalent way of constructing this very archetype of femininity — the wholeness of natural woman. The wife-mother-character’s self-fulfilment is attained via the man or family and her adaptability, obedience and conformity can be read as a form of internalised patriarchal ideology. While these female characters may develop and dare to live their own life, their natural roles can be demolished, and this may lead to liberation, independence, strength and autonomy.

These scholars recognize that Bergman takes woman seriously and his representation of female subjectivity has a disturbing richness and complexity. Blackwell claims, “Bergman’s attempts to find ways to privilege, to grant authority to the other, to create universal human subjectivities within the bodies of women is […] provocative.”106

In Bergman’s representation of androgynous characters, we can also see an alternative moral picture different from the dominant heteronormative ideology in androcentric culture. Blackwell recognizes that subjectivity in androcentric culture is gendered, and gender fluidity is a violation of the normal order and patriarchal hierarchy of “male dominance” and “female submission.”107 And therefore a departure from gender fixity threatens to undercut the

104 Blackwell, 24. 105 Orr, 40. 106 Blackwell, 10. 107 Ibid., 36.

29 ideological fixity of the human subject.108 Through the depiction and foregrounding the magic power of androgynous characters, Bergman’s films challenge the dominant ideology of gender and subject fixity.109

As Blackwell observes, in Bergman’s vision, society is as hostile to the artist as it is to the androgyne, since art and androgyny are linked in their implicit affirmation of the mutability of the human subject.110 Androgynous characters are outside the mainstream society and are considered dangerous and threatening. In Bergman’s films, different androgynous characters have unpleasant appearances, they are recognized by the authority as singularly threatening and subversive since their dual body “can disrupt the monolithic in male culture.”111 In Bergman’s films, different androgynous characters are either humiliated and interrogated by the suspicious representative of the social authorities or they are considered so dangerous that they need to be locked up.

On the other hand, androgynous characters are often connected with magic in Bergman’s vision and the transgression of gender boundaries can be energizing and enriching. As Blackwell recognizes that androgynous character in Bergman’s film is often associated with magic, art, holiness and faith and “embodies […] some mystical faith in the transcendental aspect of art that is in turn associated with a deep and ‘essential humanness’”.112 Furthermore, Blackwell regards Bergman’s androgyny as being depicted as “necessary for personal growth and development.”113 This is most vividly manifest in the representation of the androgynous Ismael, in Fanny and Alexander, and his role of empowering Alexander which contributes to Alexander’s artistic and psychological growth.

Humphrey claims that through the representations of androgynous characters, Bergman’s films have a discomforting understanding of gender and function as gender deconstruction. These androgynous forms of subjectivity provide a filmic vision of sexual possibilities and alternative gender configuration.114 Through the representation of the androgynous character, Bergman also helps to expose that gender and subject fixity are false constructs and therefore raises our queer consciousness. Furthermore, Bergman’s treatment of

108 Blackwell, 35. 109 Ibid., 36. 110 Ibid., 39. 111 Ibid., 28. 112 Ibid., 33. 113 Ibid., 40. 114 Humphrey, 106-107.

30 gender issues engenders an awareness of the mutability of subjectivity and distinguishes itself from the dominant androcentric ideology.

To conclude, Bergman’s subjects may have many different faces, each face has a parallel truth and makes sense. Not only are their identities not fixed but also there are no clear dividing lines between these identities. As Orr observed, “these troubled subjects are half inside their culture of civility but half outside it as well. In and out, a deadly formula.”115 I agree with Orr that Bergman’s characters should be regarded as a balance of sorts to all this and as audience we simply accept them as they are, with their fluidity, complicity and contradictions.

115 Orr, 17-18.

4. Film analysis: Fanny and Alexander

For reasons of research scope, this film analysis will not be a comprehensive one. Rather, it will focus on the ideological function of the film which is embedded in the narrative structure, the depiction of character and the unorthodox way of using classical music.

4.1 Narrative

Fanny and Alexander is a historical period drama focusing on pre-teen siblings — Alexander and Fanny Ekdahl and their large well-to-do family living in Uppsala in 1907. The script is composed of seven segments: Prologue, Christmas, Death and funeral, Breaking up, The events of a summer, The demons, and Epilogue. This analysis of the narrative will focus on the second segment of Christmas. Particularly, the analysis will take a close look at the ideological implication of the blend of oppositional elements in the plot patterns.

The Christmas segment opens with the performance of The Play about the Joyful Birth of Christ in the family-owned theatre in the afternoon, followed by a Christmas dinner at Helena Ekdahl’s big apartment. The head of the family, Helena Ekdahl, a wealth widow and former actress, has three sons: Oscar Ekdahl, the eldest son, is the manager of the family- owned theatre and his wife is Emilie; the second son Carl Ekdahl is a professor; and her third son Gustav Adolf Ekdahl is a restaurant-keeper with the restaurant located in the same locale of the theatre. As a well-to-do large family, the celebration of Christmas at Ekdahl’s is lavish and grand. While the general atmosphere in this segment is free, warm and joyous there are various oppositional contents which give the narrative and themes ambiguity and the effect is unsettling.

4.1.1 Ominous signs of death in the joyous Christmas celebration

It has been a tradition in Ekdahl family since the elder Oscar’s days, that the celebration of Christmas begins with the performance of The Play about the Joyful Birth of Christ in their

32 family-owned theatre. As Bergman describes the scene: “Celestial music is heard, the stage is flooded with light, and a white-robed angel, surrounded by cherubs, is lowered from the flies.”116 The play ends by the speech recited by Alexander: “Let no one into darkness fall,” followed by everyone on stage: “A happy Christmas one and all.”117

Following this serene and merry ending and warm applause of the audience, all the actors in their costumes assemble backstage. Gustav Adolf Ekdahl, together with his family and restaurant staff march in with wines and food and Christmas presents for the theatre staff and their families. Surrounded by this joyous company, Oscar Ekdahl mounts the steps and makes his traditional Christmas speech.

Here comes a long close-up of Oscar, showing his pale and sweated face, smiling gently, yet he cannot conceal the fatigue and exhaustion in his eyes. Oscar’s speech turns quickly nostalgic as he speaks of his lack of talent and his love of the theatre: “or is it perhaps that we give the people who come here the chance of forgetting for a while […] the harsh world outside.”118 At this moment, the happy atmosphere suddenly turns into something tragic and sad. As Oscar gazes at his glass, we can hear the uncomfortable silence from his company. And when he looks up again, we can see his tortured face with tears in his eyes. This single close-up has lasted about one minute and forty-five seconds.

This plot pattern of contradictory elements is repeated later in the Christmas dance scene. After an abundant Christmas dinner, the tradition of Christmas dance follows. With Helena in the lead, all the family members dance in single file and wind through the big apartment. Everyone is singing and giggling, laughing and puffing and “the floors shake, the house trembles, and the chandeliers tinkle.”119 Suddenly Oscar excuses himself from the dance file and sits down on the floor with fatigue, a close-up of his sweated face reveals the torture on his face and he gives three deep sighs. Once again, this close-up gives an ominous sign and foreshadows the upcoming death which happens in the middle of January.

In both scenes, Bergman uses close-ups to reveal Oscar’s tortured physical and mental conditions and the sign of death. They are excellent examples showing Bergman’s skill in depicting “in precision and detail the human condition through the visual freezing of the

116 Ingmar Bergman, Fanny and Alexander. (London: Penguin Books, 1989), 23. 117 “Ingen må I mörkret bliva kvar”; “En god jul till all och envar.” 118 “eller också kan vi ge människorna som kommer hit en möjlighet att för ett kort ögonblick eller några sekunder […] glömma bort den svåra världen där ute.” 119 Bergman, 33.

33 moment when the soul reveals itself — through the proximity of the body, through voice, gesture and in close-up, the enigmas of the human face.”120 Not surprisingly, John Orr regards the enigmas of the human face as being firmly at the centre of Bergman’s vision.

The presence and foregrounding of these ominous signs in contrast to the joyous Christmas celebration also function as an alternative moral picture which draws our attention to the presence of the “marginalized paradigm scenario” embodied in the stories. The force of these scenarios lies in the ways these contradictory elements provide paradigms of ways of feeling. According to Rodriguez, ideologies don’t refer exclusively to beliefs, but also to ways of feeling, acting and seeing. He claims, “It is the ongoing encounter with such scenarios that helps to shape our emotional attitude. In this context, a film may reinforce, refine, or challenge the dominant paradigm scenarios of a culture.”121 Not surprisingly, the repetition of these ominous signs of death consistently unsettle us and give us the feeling of sadness and uneasiness which plant a seed of doubt of the happy Christmas celebration and therefore embedded ideological implications.

4.1.2 The blend of the sublime with the scatological

Despite the often metaphysically and philosophically tinted readings, John Orr claims that “Bergman’s is a tactile cinema, a cinema of the flesh that rejects pure spirituality and brings the spectator up close and personal to the textures of the skin, of water, of sweat and tears.”122 He also observes that Bergman’s subjects are never fully barbarians nor are they fully rational beings. They oscillate between one end of the spectrum and the other, unable to abandon the primitive for the cultivated or the cultivated for the primitive.123 The vulgar fart scene with Carl Ekdahl is a relevant example in this regard, both stylistically and thematically there are strong carnal and spiritual elements blended.

Carl Ekdahl’s “Christmas firework show” follows the Christmas dinner and dance. As the films shows, there are an abundant choice of food and drinks and everyone eats and drinks to his/her heart’s content and his/her stomach’s capacity: traditional Christmas hams, different

120 Orr, 95. 121 Rodriguez, 272. 122 Orr, 3–4. 123 Ibid., 18.

34 kinds of pickled herrings, prince sausages, Swedish meatballs, stockfish, steaks, turkeys, pates, rice pudding, Christmas cake…… accompanying drinks of vodka, beers, wines, liquors and brandy. The beautiful milieu of Helena’s big kitchen is adorned with all kinds of colourful Christmas decorations — flowers, ribbons, garlands, runners, Santa Clauses, lanterns and candles and of course, the quintessential Christmas tree.

Now the appearance of Carl is nothing ornate and he is obviously drunk: “he is red in the face and is sweating copiously; his blue eyes are bleary and slightly squinting behind the gold-rimmed pince-nez.”124 Carl attracts the kids’ attention and offers them “a Hell’s Christmas Firework show.”125 Secretly this small group excuse themselves from the living room and come to the wide staircase decorated with marble-clad walls, beautiful wall paintings with religious motifs, red carpets and colourful window mosaics.

Uncle Carl begins to make hushing movements: he loosens his braces, takes off his trousers and unbutton his underpants. The scene alternates close-up with medium shots showing how Carl springs ups and downs the stairs, bends forward to prepare his first fart. Following this first firework comes the second series of deep organ tones from uncle Carl’s fat bottom. The kids find this hilarious while Carl’s eyes are wild and crazy. He signals to Alexander to hold the lighted candles close to his buttocks and the third and final big firework ends with loud gunfire and the candle flames flicker and go out.

Carl’s fart scene is a most vivid example of Bergman’s ability to mingle the sublime with the scatological and expand the world of the senses in all directions. It is also one of his cinematic visions of madness which according to John Orr, is “controlled and terrifying statements of human extremity.”126 Bergman’s exposure of this dark and abject side of human beings invokes uneasy emotions among audiences and poses a number of riddles which lead to different readings.

Mats Rohdin regards this fart scene as a critique of bourgeois values.127 Furthermore, with regard to the following scene of Oscar’s reading of the Bible, the fart scene also represents the blasphemy of religion, since the fart degrades and contaminates the bible reading.128 Rohdin’s third reading claims that the fart scene actualises and reveals the hidden

124 Bergman, 30–31. 125 “ett sjuhelvetes julfyrverkeri.” 126 Orr, 11. 127 “Prutten som kritik av högborgerligheten”. Maaret Koskinen and Mats Rohdin, Fanny och Alexander: Ur Ingmar Bergman’s Arkiv och Hemliga Gömmor. (Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 2005), 185. 128 “pruttscenen kan därför degradera och besmitta bibelläsningen.” Ibid., 192.

God.129 This has an excellent resonance with the Chinese philosophy of Daoism that Dao manifest itself in the poop.

Whatever the reading may be, the rawness, vulgarity and anticlerical undertone in this scene cannot be missed or dismissed. Juxtaposed with the idealized colourful picture of a big happy family, the cultivated and beautiful bourgeois milieu and the following scene of serene Bible reading, it is reasonable to regard this fart scene as Bergman’s mockery of authority and social satire. Not only does it reflect Bergman’s attitude of non-idealistic cinematic vision but also it reveals Bergman’s confrontation with bourgeois ideology and his ambivalent relationship to it.

As John Orr observes, Bergman loves both the popular culture of Hollywood comedy and the elitist philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche and combines both into his artistic practice. Carl Ekdahl’s fart scene does contain a kind of madness and has a touch of danger. In this scene, Bergman plunges down into the dark realm and his sense of comedy is blended with a spiritual abjectness which may reflect the darker influence of Nietzsche. Here, Bergman brings in a kind of multi-layering with different contradictory elements and very naturally he causes confusion and shakes things up with this strange and uncanny blending.

4.1.3 Repressed violence in the happy marriage

Gustav Adolf Ekdahl’s over-indulgence, dissolute behaviour and avid interest in young women are mentioned in Bergman’s screenplay as a “favourite and inexhaustible topic” of the housemaids in Ekdahl family.130 And while these young housemaids have more or less truthful tales to tell of Gustav Adolf’s philandering, he is still regarded as a fine upstanding man. “No one takes offense or finds his behaviour improper […] Not even his wife can be bothered to be jealous.”131

This is evidenced in the film by the depiction of Gustav Adolf’s wife Alma as a stately, good-humoured character. In the scene of Emilie and Alma chattering and giggling while they watch Gustav Adolf lifting Maj, a young housemaid, to blow out the candles on

129 “Prutten och Deus absconditus — den dolde Guden.” Koskinen and Rohdin, 196. 130 Bergman, 29. 131 Ibid., 30.

36 the Christmas tree in the living room, Emilie askes Alma: “Aren’t you angry?”132 And Alma laughs and answers cheerfully: “Angry? Why? I think it’s really cute.”133

Alma’s good humour is further evidenced in the scene of the Christmas morning when Gustav Adolf returns home after his visits to Maj during the night. Alma greets her husband and takes care of him immediately, ordering Petra, their dotter, to go to the kitchen and fry three eggs and some ham and spread two cheese sandwiches for her father, as if nothing has happened.

Meanwhile there was a pillow fight scene in the nursery the previous evening. As Alexander’s most favourite housemaid, Maj is playing with the kids, having an exciting pillow fight. A pillow splits and scatters a snowfall of tiny feather and the atmosphere becomes hilarious and chaotic as they are all shouting and laughing. Alexander is lying pinned to the floor with Maj sitting on his stomach. Emilie and Alma come to say good night to the kids and accidentally catch the scene. Unnoticed, they close the door, giggling, and knock on the door and re-enter. Confronted with an embarrassed Maj, Alma tells her that they have a Christmas gift for her. Without warning, and much to Emilie’s surprise, Alma gives Maj a slap on the face while Maj is still smiling and thanking Alma for the Christmas gift.

This scene is disturbing because it gives insight into the corruption of a happy marriage. On the surface, Alma and Gustav Adolf seem to have a happy life together and Alma is always understanding and generous towards Gustav Adolf’s philandering. But at a closer look, maybe Alma is not so happy with her marriage as she seems to be. Maybe she conceals her jealousy and represses her discontent due to economic dependency or conformity to the patriarchal values to be an obedient wife. We may not know the precise meaning and significance, but this tiny detail of physical violence reveals the psychic violence Alma suffers from her husband’s dissolute behaviours. It is an allusion perhaps to the bitterness hidden deeply in the happy marriage. As audience we cannot help but feel confused and uneasy.

4.2 Character

132 “Blir du inte arg?” 133 “Arg? Varför det? Jag tycker det är ganska rart.”

As Bergom-Larsson observes that in Bergman’s films woman represents certain special values — emotionality, growth, strength, warmth, wholeness, intuition, maturity, all- embracing motherliness — which are denied in the male world. Man is depicted as the opposite pole to woman and represents values such as: intellect, inquiry, sterility, coldness, exploitation, discord, violence and immaturity.134 Also, there are different forms of gender deconstruction in Bergman’s films that are manifest in androgynous characters. In the depiction of these male, female and androgynous characters, Bergman’s vision problematizes and challenges the dominant representation through his alternative framework, which manifest in the fluidity, complexity and un-unity of these subjectivities. This provides an alternative moral picture that goes against the tradition of subject and gender fixity within narrative cinema.

4.2.1 Male character: Three illegitimate father figures

As Alexander’s father, Oscar Ekdahl is depicted as a gentle, loving but impotent man. Oscar’s father status is therefore biologically questionable. Also, his early death — the literal loss of the father and the desertion of his children — indicates the failing of the patriarchal which has bereft him of the sense of legitimate patriarchal authority.

Blackwell mentions the type of feminized father in Bergman’s work — a patriarch who is aligned with feminine values — as gentle and loving, devoted to his children but also totally ineffectual and powerless.135 Oscar is exactly such a feminized father figure. At his death bed, he also relinquishes his control of the family and the theatre to his wife Emilie.

Oscar’s impotency is mentioned implicitly in the film by his mother Helena in her conversation with Isak: “Carl and Gustav Adolf are over-erotic […] Carl and Gustav Adolf have had too much (sex) and Oscar have had nothing.”136 And she feels very sorry for Emilie because she is so young, healthy and warm-blooded. In the screenplay, there is a detailed description of the circumstances of how Emilie and Oscar’s three children came to be which explicitly indicates Oscar’s impotency. (Different from the screenplay, in the film, Emilie and Oscar have only two kids — Alexander and Fanny). After ten years of childlessness after her

134 Bergom-Larsson, 29. 135 Blackwell, 210. 136 “Carl och Gustav Adolf är övererotiska […] Carl och Gustav Adolf fick för mycket och Oscar fick ingenting.”

38 marriage with Oscar, Emilie delivers the first child Amanda after her stay in Helsinki as guest artist. The second child Alexander’s biological father is indicated as “a young and very talented actor with a romantic appearance” who plays Mr. Palmlund with Emilie in “The Lady of the Camellias.”137 A year later the third child Fanny was born, “healthy and plump and very like the archbishop, who had paid a visit to the diocese.”138

Alexander expresses his discontent and rebellion toward this father figure on different occasions. After Oscar’s death, Alexander mumbles obscene words during the solemn funeral march, one word for each step: “prick, piss, shit, fart, piss, hell, shit, prick, fart, shit, piss, fart, cock, cunt, damnation, hell, bugger, arse, piss, fuck, arse, bugger, pisspot, prick, shit.”139

Alexander also expresses his dissatisfaction directly to Oscar’s ghost. The night Alexander stays at Isak’s home after being rescued from the bishop’s palace, he wakes up in the evening and desperately tries to find the toilet. After he has had a long pee in a potted palm plant, he tries to find his way back. Suddenly, Oscar’s ghost is standing in front of him, looking at him with kindly, worried eyes.

Oscar: “It’s not my fault everything has gone wrong. […] I cannot leave you.”140 Alexander feels ashamed by father’s powerlessness: “Since you can’t help us, it’s much better you clear off to Heaven.”141 Alexander further questions Oscar’s authority by asking: “Why can’t you go to God and tell him to kill the bishop?”142

As Alexander’s stepfather, Edward Vergerus is depicted as a powerful but rigid and cruel man. He is the bishop of the small town with a power position and is therefore a representative of patriarchal authority. Through his marriage to Emilie, he becomes the stepfather of Alexander, but he loses the authority embedded in that patriarchal figure through Alexander’s rebellion and rejection of his patriarchal order. Also, his patriarchal authority is challenged by the matriarchal figures of Helena and Emilie, the peripheral figure of Isak and the androgynous figure of Ismael, since the authority and power are dispersed across these figures.

137 Bergman, 13. 138 Ibid., 14. 139 “Pitt, piss, skit, prutt, piss, helvete, skit, pitt, prutt, bajs, piss, prutt, kuken, fittan, satan, helvete, baja, arsel, piss, tasken, röven, murran, pisspott, pitt, skit.” 140 “Det är inte mitt fel att det har gått på tok. […] Jag kan inte lämna er.” 141 “Det vore mycket bättre att du stack till himlen för du kan ändå inte hjälpa oss.” 142 “Varför kan du inte gå till Gud och säga att han måste slå ihjäl biskopen?”

Edward Vergerus is a typical representative of Bergman’s intellectual authoritarian bourgeois. He is intellectual and elegant, looking confident and strewing witty and cynical remarks with an amiable smile. But behind his smile and confidence, as Emilie sees through him, there is insecurity, chaos, pain and anguish.

According to Bergom-Larsson’s concept of social roles, Edward is suggestive of “the socially deformed male role”.143 As an intellectual authoritarian bourgeois, he is emotionally handicapped and quite out of touch with his hermetically sealed emotional life.144 This emotional handicap is evidenced in his conversation with Emilie:

Edward: “[…] but I manage a mighty office. The office is always greater than the one who performs it. The man who lives in an official position is its slave. He has no right to opinion of his own.”145

He has dedicated his whole life to the destructive patriarchy and lived in emotional atrophy. His love to Emilie only leads to suppression since he finds that Emilie’s existence threatens his office. As Blackwell claims, with his complicity with the patriarchal hierarchy, Edward is also a representative of the spiritually bankrupt, and ideologically corrupt male rationalist.146

Alexander finds himself in direct conflict with Edward before his mother’s remarriage. Through the using of obscene words on several occasions in Edward’s presence, Alexander shows his rebellion against him. Furthermore, Alexander’s imaginative artistic world is juxtaposed in opposition with the bishop’s rigid view of an immutable human reality. Therefore, his conflict with Edward can also be read as an allegory for the ideological division between art and religion.

On the one hand, Edward Vergerus is depicted as a rigid and cruel patriarchal figure, most evidently showed in his trial of his stepson Alexander, using both physical violence and humiliation during the proceedings and locking the boy in the attic after the punishment. On the other hand, his male vulnerability is laid bare in the scene before his mysterious death. After having drunken the broth with sleeping pills by mistake, he asks Emilie for help and love. “Half-blind and enraged, he gets up and stumbles toward her, groping for her arm […]

143 Bergom-Larsson, 37. 144 Ibid., 37. 145 “[…] men jag förvaltar ett mäktigt ämbete. Ämbetet är större än utövaren. Människan som lever i ämbetet är ämbetets slav. Han har inte rätt till egna tycken.” 146 Blackwell, 40.

40 hollow, convulsive sobs shake him, and tears keep filling his inflamed eyes.”147 This male vulnerability is furthered strengthened by his tragic death in the mysterious fire shortly afterwards.

According to Bergom-Larsson’s notion of male natural being, male characters are often depicted as “children and dolls” — middle-aged boy who simply cannot grow up — behind their social masks.148 There is something tragicomic about these children and dolls when Bergman depict their vulnerable dignity and masculinity. In Bergman’s depiction Edward is both hateable and lamentable.

Edward Vergerus’ male vulnerability has resonance with Daniel Humphrey’s analysis of another symbol of patriarchy Johan, in Saraband, when Johan fully exposes his aged body including his genitals to his ex-wife and the spectator. According to Humphrey, in spite of the social production of male emotional coldness, cynicism and exploitation, the strong sense of male vulnerability manifested in Bergman’s depiction “conveys a moment of revelation and reconciliation.”149

The third male character Isak Jacobi is a peripheral figure and he is doubly illegitimate as representative of father figure. Firstly, he has never married and has no child. Also, with the identity of a Jew, he is an outsider of the Swedish society.150 Ironically, it is this doubly illegitimate father figure who successfully rescues Fanny and Alexander from their imprisonment and eventually returns them to Ekdahl’s home.

There is something tragicomic in the portrayal of Isak’s character. In the screenplay, he is described as a shopkeeper who runs a remarkable shop that is full of every imaginable object under the sun. His appearance is also remarkable: “a lanky man with a stooping gait and large pale hands. He has a long beard, curls at his ears, black eyes, and a narrow white forehead.”151

Remarkable rumours tell that he slaughters little children and drinks their blood. And in his house, he does own a mummy! He reads books with strange letters and wears funny clothes. Furthermore, as an antique dealer, no one has seen him buying or selling things. All this adds to the mysterious and dangerous aura of this peripheral character.

147 Bergman, 196. 148 Bergom-Larsson., 39. 149 Humphrey, 169. 150 Ibid., 172. 151 Bergman, 20-21.

Maybe not so surprisingly, Isak is liked and hated in different families. As Helena’s old lover and good friend, Isak is a regular guest at Ekdahl’s and both Fanny and Alexander like to visit his shop. While in the bishop’s palace, he is obviously not a welcome guest. Edward’s sister Henrietta shows hostility by staring at him with distaste and throwing out sarcastic comments. And Edward in his rage grabs Isak and shouts to him: “You damned loathsome Jewish swine. You thought you could cheat me. You repulsive hook-nosed skunk.”152 This scene vividly dramatizes the established authority’s fear and hostility to this nonnormative outsider.

This scene has a resonance with the scene in The Magician, when Vergerus (the same surname as the bishop in Fanny and Alexander!), the representative of patriarchal social power, loses his masculine mastery when faced with the non-normative character Vogler. Humphrey claims that the scenes in which Vergerus tries to examine, humiliate and persecute this nonnormative outsider suggest that “another’s queerness can threaten one’s own normalcy.”153 Therefore induce fear-related actions and cruelty toward the nonnormative character. At the same time, Vergerus is also ridiculed by the nonnormative character’s revenge. In the final twist in The Magician, when the call from the king comes, it is Vogler, the non-normative outsider who wins. In Fanny and Alexander as well, it is Isak who wins the battle and rescues the kids from the imprisonment in the bishop’s palace.

The ideological function of the character of Isak Jacobi is multi-layered. There is radical force in the depiction of this peripheral figure. Not only has this doubly illegitimate father figure rescued Fanny and Alexander from imprisonment, but also, he provides Alexander with the insight to challenge a patriarchal oppressor. Another interesting aspect is the androgynous figure Ismael who is Isak’s nephew and lives with him in the mysterious house. It is with the help of Ismael’ magic power that Alexander’s wish to kill the bishop becomes true. We can regard Isak as one example of Bergman’s attempt to give the peripheral figure authority through foregrounding his power.

152 ”Förbannade, vedervärdiga judesvin! Du trodde att du skulle lura mig. Ditt vedervärdiga, kroknästa stinkdjur.” 153 Humphrey, 123.

4.2.2 Female character: Unfaithful wife not punished and woman’s development toward autonomy

As Blackwell observes, when patriarchal authority is corrupt, illusory, or lost, the relationship between women will be altered in significant ways which may lead to female intimacy and matriarchy authority.154 In Fanny and Alexander, there is a strong emotional bond between Helena and Emilie and they always show understanding and support for each other. Both women are representative of matriarchal authority since they have taken charge of their families and the theatre. There are similarities between these two characters: both Helena and Emilie are beautiful and talented actresses surrounded by admirers; both are loved by their husbands and families; and both have been unfaithful towards their husbands. Different from mainstream cinema, these female characters — powerful and unfaithful — are not punished in Bergman’s cinematic vision.

In the scene in which Helena converses with Isak, they remember happily the old days when they are caught by Helena’s husband, the elder Oscar. Helena praises her husband for his generosity and Isak recalls his friendship with the elder Oscar after the happenings. They both regard the elder Oscar as a wise and broad-minded man. In the screenplay, “the elder Oscar Ekdahl and his wife Helena […] lived in what they themselves considered a happy marriage, and their mutual loyalty was never shaken.”155 This is the first depiction of an unfaithful wife not being punished. This depiction also has a resonance with John Orr’s observation that in Bergman’s comedy, infidelity is depicted humorously in a variety of combinations and functions often as a source of farce and laughter and woman character is depicted as “feisty, determined, independent and above all equal protagonists to their male counterparts.”156.

Emilie and Oscar also have a happy marriage, their only sorrow being that the marriage is childless for more than ten years. After the three children were born in quick succession, “the rapid increase in the Ekdahl family gave rise to gossip in the town, while those immediately concerned appeared very happy.”157 Again here is the picture of an

154 Blackwell, 7. 155 Bergman, 16. 156 Orr, 145. 157 Ibid., 14.

43 unfaithful wife not being punished. Furthermore, Helena explicitly shows sympathy towards Emelie and feels sorry for her due to Oscar’s impotency.

As Blackwell so shrewdly observes these two female characters’ unfaithfulness are not punished, on the contrary, “both Emilie and Helena are represented as unfaithful wives whose sexual expressiveness enrich them and the world.”158 In Fanny and Alexander, there is no guilty conscience on Helena’s behalf, the representative of matriarchy, which is quite radical and suggestive. Humphrey observes that Bergman, more than any other director, “took women seriously, looked with curiosity and respects at every facet of their lives […] never thought of them as second-class citizens.”159

In Bergman’s portrayal of Emilie, we can discern the trajectory of a woman’s development toward independence. After Oscar’s death, Emilie turns to the bishop Edward with her worries and seeks support and guide. And Emilie tells Alexander her gratitude toward Edward: “the bishop has been very good to me during this difficult time […] Be grateful that the bishop takes his time to help you.”160 This dependence on a man also leads to her decision to marry Edward.

But the dependence and protection of Edward has a high price. The ideological division between Emilie and Edward manifests itself first in the different styles of their homes. While Ekdahl’s home is warm, cosy, luxurious and comfortable, the bishop’s palace reflects the suppressions of the material: “it is an elongated stone building with countless dark rooms, thick walls, tiny windows, high thresholds, and knotty wooden floors”161 which give a heavy and harsh atmosphere. Edward has a rigid view and lives an austere life without much comfort. He tells Emilie: “In these old rooms there is a beauty that is imperishable. Let us be grateful that we are allowed to live in an atmosphere of austerity and purity.”162

Their ideological division is further manifested in their wedding which give the impression of a mourning ceremony. At the bishop’s request the ladies wear simple grey or black dresses during the wedding ceremony. And both Fanny and Alexander wear grey costumes. While “the general opinion is that art and religion have formed a happy union,” in

158 Blackwell, 213. 159 Humphrey, 168. 160 “Biskopen har varit mycket god mot mig under den här svåra tiden […] Var tacksam mot biskopen som tar sig tid med dig.” 161 Bergman, 94–95. 162 “I de här gamla rummen finns en skönhet som är oförgänglig. Vi ska vara tacksamma att vi får leva i en atmosfär av kärvhet och renhet.”

44 reality, this union actually manifests the division between the two, ideologically.163 This division is further manifested in their different view of religion. While Edward’s God is one, Emilie’s God is different: “He is like me, boundless and intangible. […] my God wears a thousand masks. He has never showed me his real face.”164

Inevitably, the division between this couple results in repression. Not only does Edward repress his own desires and comfort but also that of Emilie and her children. Not only does she have to give up her career as an actress and theatre manager, but also her home, including furniture, clothes, jewels, possessions, and friends, habits, thoughts. Alexander and Fanny have to abandon their former life entirely, too, including their toys, books and everything. This depiction is very informative to the negative effect of women’s social role as obedient wife. As Bergom-Larsson maintains, woman’s dependence on her husband in the intimate relationship also makes her vulnerable and hampers her development. 165 Her adaptability, obedience and conformity can be read as a form of internalised patriarchal norms, therefore security from the protection of patriarchy demands the price of destroying her autonomy.

Emilie returns to Ekdahl’s big apartment at the end of the film. She regains independence and takes charge of both the home and the theatre. She even persuades Helena to play with her in August Strindberg’s A Dream Play. The bishop Edward has died in the magic fire and the loss of a patriarch leads to her development towards strength, liberation and autonomy.

The ideological value of Bergman’s depiction of female characters also lies in Emilie’s rebellion against the bishop. While Emilie, by marrying the bishop, is responsible for the children’s suffering, she also provides them with a model of rebellion against the patriarchy.166 As Blackwell claims, on the most fundamental level, Bergman’s treatment of feminist issues distinguishes itself from the dominant male cultural tradition.167

The ending of the film is ambivalent in its final twist. While the last scene showing Alexander laying his head on Helena’s lap, suggesting the rejecting of the patriarchy and the regaining power of the matriarchy, the previous scene shows how Alexander is knocked down

163 Bergman, 103. 164 “Han är som jag själv, utan gränser och ogripbar […] min Gud bär tusen masker. Han har aldrig visat mig sitt rätta ansikte.” 165 Bergom-Larsson, 40. 166 Blackwell, 213. 167 Ibid., 30.

45 on the floor by the ghost of Edward. The bishop stares the boy from above, hissing coldly: “you cannot avoid me!”168 In this final twist, we may sense Bergman’s ambivalence toward patriarchal authority and the absence of it. As Blackwell observes, what is interesting in Bergman’s case is that the revolt is aligned with an allegiance to the female, to the authority of her values and sensibilities.169 Since matriarchy is usually linked to the realm of imagination and fantasy, the ending indicates that Alexander is finally unified with the female values which has the power to nourish his imagination and artistic expression.

4.2.3 Androgynous character: Fluid gender identity and magic power

There are two androgynous characters in Fanny and Alexander: Isak’s nephew Ismael Retzinsky and Edward’s aunt Miss Elsa Bergius. There are similarities between the depiction of these two androgynous characters. The queer aura first emanates from their appearances.

Ismael is depicted as “a boy of about sixteen. He has a round pale face, curly auburn hair, and narrow pale blue eyes. His movements are gracefully girlish and his voice light and a trifle hoarse.”170 In the film, Ismael is actually played by Swedish actress Stina Ekblad which results in the appearance of an uncertain sexual identity. Also, Ismael is wearing a simple black suit and white shirt which lack clear gender mark.

Miss Elsa Bergius is played by a male actor Hans Henrik Lerfeldt and this character has a very unpleasant appearance. As a bedridden character with a shameful disease, Elsa is enormously fat and shapeless. She sits immobile in a chair or lies in bed. “When she breathes, she lets out a sound like that of a rusty pump. A smell of sour dampness surrounds the sunken figure.”171 In this character, there is no clear gender mark from her appearance either.

The queer aura emanates not only from their appearance but also from their milieu and circumstances. Both characters are depicted as ill. As sick person, Ismael is locked up behind a forbidden door while Elsa Bergius is confined to her bed or chair. Isak warns Alexander that

168 “Mig slipper du inte!” 169 Blackwell, 6. 170 Bergman, 197. 171 Ibid., 97.

46 the door to Ismael’s room must always be kept shut. And Edward also warns Emilie not to be alarmed and the kids not to be afraid by meeting with Elsa, indicating the dangerous atmosphere surrounded by these androgynous characters.

Through the figures of the androgyne, Bergman addresses the issues of gender deconstruction that challenge the gender orthodoxy. Their uncertain sexual identity and the queer aura brings with it a disturbance and the effect is uncanny. It is also disturbing that Bergman grants Ismael magic powers which contribute to Edward’s death. As Humphrey claims: “As a personification of the foreign, ungendered depths within, Ismael has provided Alexander with the insight to challenge a patriarchal oppressor and to come to a new and more ethically queer sense of subjective relationality.”172

In the character of Ismael, there is fluidity of subjectivity in double sense. Not only is he androgynous, hence an embodiment of transgression of sexual boundaries, but Alexander also merges with him in order to liberate himself from the repressive patriarchy. Before the killing of the bishop, the identity boundaries between Ismael and Alexander become fluid as Ismael holds Alexander and says: “It is not me who is talking, it is yourself. […] I erase myself. I flow into you. […] I am your angel and protect you.”173 It is through their mergence of subjectivities that they have realized the mental pictures in Alexander’s thought and successfully killed the bishop and liberated Alexander from the repressive patriarchal authority.

Furthermore, Blackwell regards this representation of Ismael’s androgynous character as having a positive effect and that it is necessary for Alexander’s artistic and psychological growth and development.174 Blackwell suggests that androgyny is “a vital prerequisite for a full human and artistic life” since Alexander seems to need the experience of the androgyne in order to “achieve full subjectivity.”175 She further emphasizes the importance of androgyny by claiming that “sexual ambiguity empowers the artistic enterprise” and “androgyny is the site of imaginative and artistic authority.”176

In the killing of Edward, the negative character Miss Elsa Bergius also plays an important role. It is she who catches the fire in the first place which eventually ignites

172 Humphrey, 175. 173 “Det är inte jag som talar, det är du själv. […] Jag utplånar mig själv. Jag går in i dig. […] Jag är din ängel som beskyddar dig.” 174 Blackwell, 40. 175 Ibid., 38-39. 176 Ibid., 212.

Edward’s bedclothes and nightshirt. By granting androgynous characters magic power, Bergman implicitly rejects the authority of patriarchy. Furthermore, according to Humphrey, different forms of gender deconstruction, manifested in androgynous characters, genderless sexual desire and homosexuality in Bergman’s films also problematize and challenge the long tradition of homophobia within narrative cinema. In this context, I agree with Humphrey in that Bergman’s films have had and might continue to have a positive role in the radicalization of our understandings of sexuality and gender roles, one that merits renewed discussion and debates.177

4.3 Music

Ingmar Bergman has an intimate personal relationship to music. For him, music is “more important than food and drink, it came to represent a source of solace and support.”178 Not surprisingly, for Bergman as a filmmaker, music is also an important source of inspiration and he has learned a great deal from music in his professional work. As Alexis Luko observes, Bergman has sought inspiration “in the forms, rhythms, and genres of music and worked out consistent non-diegetic and diegetic aural languages.”179

Throughout his career, Bergman has acknowledged the significance of music in inspiring his cinematic aesthetic by claiming that he loves music too much to use it as a subordinate factor.180 As Bergman claims: “I have not written a film script in the normal sense. What I have written seems to me more like a melody line; I think of my crew as playing musical instruments during filming.”181

In Fanny and Alexander, music stands out as one of the most important formal features. In the analysis of music in Bergman’s theatrical works, Ulla-Britta Lagerroth claims that Bergman musicalized his production.182 Borrowing her concept of musicalization, it is

177 Humphrey, 5. 178 Bergman as quoted in Alexis Luko, Sonatas, Screams, and Silence: Music and Sound in the Films of Ingmar Bergman, (New York and London: Routledge, 2016), 3. 179 Alexis Luko, Sonatas, Screams, and Silence: Music and Sound in the Films of Ingmar Bergman, (New York and London: Routledge, 2016), 67. 180 Ibid., 67. 181 Bergman as quoted in Ibid., 45. 182 Ulla-Britta Lagerroth, “Musicalisation of the Stage: Ingmar Bergman Performing Shakespeare”, In Ingmar Bergman Revisited: Performance, Cinema and the Arts, edited by Maaret Koskinen. (London and New York: Wallflower Press, 2008), 35.

48 relevant to claim that Fanny and Alexander as well can be defined as musicalized due to the extent to which music is employed.

Firstly, the linkage between music and film is manifest in the structure of the film. As Bergman once compares his cinematic process to musical composition, his films are “constructed […] symphonically like music, with five or six or more motifs.”183 Fanny and Alexander follows the pattern of a symphony and is divided into seven segments: Prologue, Christmas, Death and funeral, Breaking up, The events of a summer, The demons, and Epilogue. Each segment has different motif and manifest itself in distinct styles, demonstrating the similarities with musical compositions.

Secondly, from an intermedial perspective, music is employed in Fanny and Alexander to function as a frame. As Lagerroth suggests, “a frame, or framing, is considered to function as key to communication, knowledge and understanding of the framed part.”184 In the prologue of Fanny and Alexander, Bergman has created an musicalized opening, accompanying the images with the second movement of Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat major, Opus 44, II: “In modo d’una marcia”. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leYO8EVIkns185 ) The beautifully lyrical melody makes its appearance in the opening scene when Alexander is watching his puppet theatre. Then the mood of the music undergoes a dramatic change when Alexander begins to explore Ekdahl’s big apartment. The theme of this piece of music contains two contrasting episodes and lasts about one minute and fifty seconds in this opening scene. The first episode of the theme is played by violin and cello, and the idyllic tunes convey very expressively a tender, sweet but somewhat sad and melancholy feeling, setting the bittersweet tone of the whole film and provide an orientation for the spectator’s reception. Then as if coming out of nowhere, the music alternates to the contrasting episode with a more agitated theme played by piano with string accompaniment. Accompanying this change of music, the scene changes and Alexander opens the door to Helena Ekdahl’s apartment, and the light modern milieu is accordingly changed to a dark mysterious milieu which conveys an unsettling quality, indicating the dramatic darkness and terror content in this film. There’s no sense of inevitability between this change of music which adds to an indefinable mysterious touch to the film. And as an audience you just accept it as it is.

183 Bergman as quoted in Luko, 48. 184 Lagerroth, 38. 185 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leYO8EVIkns, accessed 23 April, 2019.

The use of these two contrasting episodes of this musicalized opening is an excellent example of the function of music frame, serving as an initial meta-commentary of the film. The purpose is not simply to underscore images, signify the mood of the character and indicate the shift of his action and environment. Rather, this opening music gives tempo, rhythm and mood to the whole film and at the same time foreshadows the dramatic happenings in this magical world, filled with both wonder and terror. It functions as a key to communication, knowledge and understanding of the film and therefore has a tremendous emotional impact on the audience. In The Touch, Bergman uses Carl Michael Bellman’s “Like a Sheperdess” (“Liksom en herdinna”) as the theme music in the opening scene.186 The extremely long and expressive opening music has a similar frame function.

Thirdly, Bergman also permits music to break through onto a fluid meta-diegetic plane which means “music simultaneously straddles inner and outer narrative spaces, diegetic and non-diegetic.187 Although the music performed in Fanny and Alexander are mostly traditional classical pieces, including the works of Schumann, Vivaldi, Verdi, Dvorak, Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin, Britten, Johan Strauss Jr, Bach, Britten, and Offenbach, the use and function of the music are unique in that they convey ideological messages.188 For my purpose I will not give a detailed analysis of the overall music and sound and their functions in Fanny and Alexander. Rather, I will take a closer look of Johan Sebastian Bach’s music and analyse in depth the ideological implication of the bishop Edward Vergerus playing Bach.

Among the famous composers of classical music, Bach’s music figures most prominently in Bergman’s films. From Prison (Fängelse, 1949) to Saraband (2003) Bergman has made frequent use of Bach’s music excerpts in his films.189 Bergman believes that Bach’s piety has the power to heal the torment of human faithlessness. As he states: “Bach speaks directly to the religious feelings missing today in many people; he gives us the profound consolation and quiet that previous generations gained through ritual. Bach supplies a lucid reflection of otherworldliness, a sense of eternity that no church can offer today.”190

In Fanny and Alexander, Bach’s Sonata No.2 for flute and harpsichord in E flat major, BWV 1031, Sicilienne has been used diegetically two times and on both occasions, it is played by the character of Edward Vergerus. The first time Edward playing Bach is when

186 Steene, 294. 187 Luko, 67. 188 Ibid., 61 - 65. 189 Ibid., 61 - 65. 190 Bergman as quoted in Luko, 66.

Emilie, Alexander and Fanny visit the bishop’s palace for the first time. It is late in the evening, Alexander and Fanny have fallen asleep in the foreground, while Edward is playing flute to Emilie in the background. The milieu is austere and simple and Bach’s music echoes in the empty room. And Emilie sits by the window and listens attentively.

Before this scene, Emilie and the children experience an unpleasant meeting with the bedridden and shapeless androgynous character Miss Elsa Bergius. Directly after the flute playing is the scene of Edward and Emilie’s long conversation in which Edward demands Emilie and her children to discard everything from their previous life when they move into his home. Both scenes reveal the deep ideological division between them. As Emilie says in their conversation: “You say that your God is the God of love. It sounds so beautiful and I wish I could believe as you do,”191 expressing the difficulty for true communication due to their very different views of life and foreshadowing that they are going to hurt each other in the future. Paisley Livingston has linked Bergman’s use of Bach to narrative “moments of perfection” wherein characters have revelations or experience deep bonds of friendship or love.192 As we see in this scene, Bach’s music seems to be the only means of communication between Edward and Emelie. It is used to highlight profound communication which cannot be expressed by words due to their ideological divisions.

The scene of Edward Vergerus playing Bach is also a relevant example of Peter Kivy’s hypothesis regarding music’s filmic function. As Kivy observes, human beings generally tend to manage their emotive expression by wearing social masks and controlling the revelation of their inner states. Nevertheless, emotive expression tends to leak through the control system. In order to really understand human emotion, it is important to recognize more subtle cues well beyond the obvious ones of facial expression, body movement, or even speech. The limitation of filmic images is that they have only the ability to capture a rather small and unsubtle repertory of emotions.193 While music, as an unintellectual tool, is much better to reveal subtle emotive cues and human emotional condition.

As a representative of Bergom-Larsson’s socially deformed male role, Edward Vergerus wears many social masks and has important social roles to play and often finds self- fulfilment in the social sphere. Behind his social masks he is quite emotionally handicapped.

191 “Du säger din Gud är kärlekens Gud. Det låter så vackert och jag önskar att jag kunde tro som du.” 192 Livingston as quoted in Luko, 66. 193 Peter Kivy, “Music in the Movies: A Philosophical Enquiry”, in Film Theory and Philosophy, edited by Richard Allen and Murray Smith. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), 322.

His amiable smile, complacent gesture and eloquent speech, as Emilie points out, cannot conceal the chaos, anxiety, anguish and insecurity deeply inside him. For this emotionally handicapped character, music is a much better tool to convey his subtle emotional cue and real feeling toward Emilie.

As Bergman writes in one of his notebooks, in the music of Bach, “our homeless longing for God finds a security which isn’t confused by the equivocality of words or the contaminations of speculation […] Bach’s music lifts us beyond the raw concretion of ritual and dogma, and takes us to a communion with a holiness that remains nameless.”194 Since the music of Bach is often used to subliminal function and provide subliminal commentary, it is interesting and unsettling that Bergman let Edward play Bach on-screen. As noted by Michael Bird, Bergman often uses Bach to “underline the spiritual condition of individuals or circumstances.”195As the most negative character in Fanny and Alexander, there is some disjunction between Edward’s playing the perfect music Bach and his flawed character.

Here we can sense Bergman’s blend of music and narrative. Even for Edward, and his much-flawed character, the music of Bach is still the source of consolation and the most perfect sign of revealing his loneliness, vulnerability and longing for love. At the same time, Bergman’s letting Edward play Bach also conveys subtle emotional cues from himself. By revealing for the audience Edward’s tender and vulnerable sides, Bergman shows a kind of sympathy and understanding toward this otherwise rigid and cruel patriarchal character.

According to Bergom-Larsson, Bergman seems to show signs of a social understanding of character’s social roles, in for instance that it is their parents who moulded them in accordance with their ambitions instead of letting them develop their own inherent potentialities.196 Consequently, the male character strives to realise his father’s dreams and ambitions of a career rather than his own. Bergom-Larsson further indicates that their parents, in Bergman’s vision, are deformed by the same pattern and are victims too. Therefore, one senses a kind of “social determinism” at work in Bergman’s vision.197

The second time when Edward Vergerus plays Bach is during the night, when Emilie is away, and Alexander and Fanny are imprisoned in the nursery in the bishop’s palace. It is a stormy night; the rain pours down and there are lightning and thundering. Edward is playing

194 Bergman as quoted from Koskinen, Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence in Luko, 66. 195 Bird as quoted in Luko, 66. 196 Bergom-Larsson, 41. 197 Ibid., 41.

52 the same Bach piece off-screen. Alexander and Fanny sit by the window and pray for the bishop’s death while the faint music of Bach is heard in the distance. The children join forces and concentrate on their prayer: “One, two, three. Die, you bastard!”198 They pause and listen, and the faint notes of flute continues to float through the empty house. Fanny: “He is still playing!”199 Alexander: “Let’s try again. One, two, three. Die, you bastard!”200

This is a very interesting depiction. It is contradictory to accompany the children’s prayer for Edward’s death with his playing the sublime music of Bach. It is also contradictory that Edward is capable of playing Bach and tormenting Emilie and her children simultaneously. Luko observes that Bach’s music not only take us to a communion with a holiness, Bergman also recognizes the inherent darkness in the music of Bach since it can cause not only joy but also suffering and pain.201

Quite often, classical music, especially Bach’s music in Bergman’s films serves as a source of strength, transcendence, and solace. Nevertheless, we should not oversimplify the role of music in Bergman’s work. As Luko claims, film music can never be judged as pure music as this ignores its collaboration with the narrative and other cinematic traits in the film.202 After this scene, later in the same night, Alexander is punished and humiliated by Edward for telling lies. The harsh portrayal of Edward, the music performer, and what hides behind his music-performing mask, should therefore not be overlooked. Here Bergman’s use of music has resonance with Luko’s claim that music sometimes “serves as a tool of injury, seduction and manipulation against unwary listeners.”203

With this in mind, how should we interpret the meaning of the music of Bach performed by the negative character Edward Vergerus? Given the character flaws of Edward, a revisionist interpretation of musical meaning is needed, one that not only affirms music’s healing and transcendental effects but also recognizes music’s active role in blending with narrative fiction and its ideological bearing. In Fanny and Alexander, Bergman’s unorthodox use of the music of Bach assigns this music excerpt an antagonistic role and functions as an expressive counterpoint to speech, revealing both the cruelty and vulnerability of the character of Edward, making him both hateable and lamentable. At the same time, it also reveals some

198 “Ett, två, tre. Dö, din fan.” 199 “Han spelar fortfarande.” 200 “Vi försöker igen. Ett, två, tre. Dö, din fan.” 201 Luko, 66. 202 Ibid., 72. 203 Ibid., 68.

53 very subtle emotive cues of Bergman and reflects his ambivalent attitude and mixed feelings toward the patriarchal figure Edward Vergerus.

5. Discussion and conclusion

In this thesis, I have addressed three research questions and investigated the interrelationship between the formal features of narrative, character, music and their ideological functions in Fanny and Alexander. Regarding the first question, as we see in the analysis, the narrative pattern consists of meticulous materials which are oppositional or contradictory to each other. On the one hand, the happy Ekdahl family is depicted as a secure incubator, providing protection to its family members. On the other hand, the plots with contradictory elements has suggested a twisted dark reality within this seemingly harmonious world, reflecting two contrasting mindscape of Ingmar Bergman’s cinematic vision.

Regarding the second research question, in the depiction of male, female and androgynous characters, Bergman problematizes the dominant representation of subject in mainstream cinema by manifesting the fluidity, complexity and un-unity of these subjectivities. Also, by granting the female, peripheral and androgynous characters power, Bergman’s vision has also challenged patriarchal authority. Bergman’s careful attention and willingness to foreground these human aspects has revealed an alternative moral picture that goes against the tradition of subject and gender fixity within narrative cinema and the dominant patriarchal ideology.

As Luko observes, “music’s success as an agent of communication is often dependent upon the types of musicians involved and the contexts in which music is heard.”204 In Fanny and Alexander, Bergman has offered an antithesis to what is usually an romanticized view of Bach by letting the cruel and flawed character Edward Vergerus be the music performer and juxtaposing the children’s hatred and horrible wishes with the sublime music of Bach. The result is provocative and thought-provoking, and the effect is more profound than that of image and language.

Bergman has his own idea of the bourgeois world, and he constructs his vision of this world in his solid way with meticulous oppositional details. Very naturally and instinctively, he treats these contradictory elements with equal emphasis and accepts contradiction as contradiction and chaos as chaos. For me, Fanny and Alexander is not so interesting to watch

204 Luko, 72.

55 unless you can see each of the contradictory details in his narrative fiction, through plot pattern, depiction of characters and the use of music.

Recognition of these diverse and contradictory elements in Bergman’s films is also a matter of recognition of extremely subtle cues signalled by the filmmaker because the blend of contradictory elements in narrative and the representation of fluid subjectivity has reflected his “alternative moral picture”, an expression coined by Hector Rodriguez, and therefore has functioned as ideology critique to the dominant ideology of patriarchy, heteronormative marriage and subject fixity. The ideological value of Bergman’s vision lies in his remarkable ability to combine and balance this mass of contradictions with a vast wealth of details and a disconcerting ease, which together represents a multi-layered and non-idealistic view of reality. It is also here his genius lies.

Due to the scope of this study, the analysis of Fanny and Alexander is not a comprehensive one, which leaves much room for further investigations.

For a comprehensive study on the ideological implication of Fanny and Alexander, a more expansive and detailed study would be required, one that includes more thematic and stylistic traits. For a more complete analysis of narrative, one should include the whole film rather than only one segment as this research does. For research of a larger scope, one should also include the investigation of other stylistic strategies such as mise-on-scene, acting styles, costumes, lighting, sound and explore their ideological functions.

During my research of Fanny and Alexander, the film reveals rich thematic and stylistic materials which I believe are worth further in-depth studying. For example, Bergman utilizes costume very expressively in this film, not only do they provide key to characters’ identities, but also their colour and design bear ideological meanings — while the costumes in Ekdahl family often are in red and white, Vergerus’ family members only wear costumes in black and grey. Furthermore, for an in-depth study of music, the ambivalent narrative perspective of blending the theme of funeral march from Schumann’s piano Quintet with Emilie and Edward’s wedding is also worth exploring. Another aspect which I have been interested but have not been able to explore in depth is the blend of high bourgeois culture with popular art. There is a kind of lowbrow ornamentation in Bergman’s aesthetic, an element of showmanship manifested in Fanny and Alexander, demonstrated for example in the scene of Gustav Adolf’s marching into the theatre with a fired hot punch bowl, which can

56 be used as an entry point to further investigate Bergman’s artistic blend of elitist culture with popular culture.

Since I have conducted in-depth research on one individual film, I have only been able to touch upon the surface of the ideological aspect of Bergman’s work. However, it is hoped that this research will contribute to further development of the study on the ideological implication of Bergman’s films, expand our understanding of Bergman’s alternative moral picture and shed more light on the ideological value embedded in his films. Furthermore, I hope my analysis of Fanny and Alexander will add one more case study to the contemporary academic framework and contribute to a more comprehensive field of Bergman research.

To conclude, let me quote Bergman scholar Birgitta Steene: “And despite the large output of Bergman scholarship to date, the subject is rich and much remains to be done.”205

205 Steene, 21.

6. Bibliography

Films

Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander, Ingmar Bergman, 1983) From the Life of Marionettes (Ur marionetternas liv, Ingmar Bergman, 1980) Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966) Saraband (Ingmar Bergman, 2003) Shame (Skammen, Ingmar Bergman, 1968) The Magician (Ansiktet, Ingmar Bergman, 1958) The Touch (Beröringen, Ingmar Bergman, 1971)

Written Sources

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Bergman, Ingmar. Fanny and Alexander. London: Penguin Books, 1989.

Bergom-Larsson, Maria. Ingmar Bergman and Society. London and New Jersey: The Tantivy Press, 1978.

Blackwell, Marilyn Johns. Gender and Representation in the Films of Ingmar Bergman. Columbia: Camden House, 1997.

Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing about Film. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. 2015.

Godard, Jean-Luc. “Bergmanorama”. In Ingmar Bergman: An Artist’s Journey, edited by Roger W Oliver. New York: Arcade, 1995, 37-41.

Hedling, Erik. “Ingmar Bergman and Modernity”. In Swedish Film: An Introduction and Reader, edited by Mariah Larsson and Anders Marklund. Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2010, 219-228.

Hedling, Erik. “The Welfare State Depicted: Post-Utopian Landscapes in Ingmar Bergman’s Films”. In Ingmar Bergman Revisited: Performance, Cinema and the Arts, edited by Maaret Koskinen. London and New York: Wallflower Press, 2008, 180-193.

Humphrey, Daniel. Queer Bergman: Sexuality, Gender, and the European Art Cinema. Austin: Texas University Press, 2013.

Kivy, Peter. “Music in the Movies: A Philosophical Enquiry”, in Film Theory and Philosophy, edited by Richard Allen and Murray Smith. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997, 308–328.

Koskinen, Maaret and Rohdin, Mats. Fanny och Alexander: Ur Ingmar Bergman’s Arkiv och Hemliga Gömmor. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 2005.

Lagerroth, Ulla-Britta. “Musicalisation of the Stage: Ingmar Bergman Performing Shakespeare”. In Ingmar Bergman Revisited: Performance, Cinema and the Arts, edited by Maaret Koskinen. London and New York: Wallflower Press, 2008, 35-50.

Luko, Alexis. Sonatas, Screams, and Silence: Music and Sound in the Films of Ingmar Bergman. New York and London: Routledge, 2016.

Orr, John. “Bergman, Nietzsche and Hollywood”. In Ingmar Bergman Revisited: Performance, Cinema and the Arts, edited by Maaret Koskinen. London and New York: Wallflower Press, 2008, 143-160.

Orr, John. The Demons of Modernity: Ingmar Bergman and European Cinema. New York and Oxford: Berghahnbooks, 2014.

Rodriguez, Hector. “Ideology and Film Culture”, in Film Theory and Philosophy, edited by Richard Allen and Murray Smith. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997, 260-281.

Soila, Tytti. “Sweden”. In Nordic National Cinemas. London and New York: Routledge, 1998,142-232.

Steene, Birgitta. Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2005.

Truffaut, Francois. The Films of My Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975, 253-260.

Wood, Robin. “Persona Revisited”, in Sexual Politics and Narrative Film: Hollywood and Beyond, New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.

Website https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leYO8EVIkns, accessed 23 April 2019. http://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/press, accessed 23 April 2019.