“The cinema is not a craft. It is not an art. It does not mean team-work. One is always alone; on the set as before the blank page. And for Bergman, to be alone means to ask questions. And to make films is to answer them. Nothing could be more classically romantic.”
Jean-Luc Godard

Ingmar Bergman is inarguably one of the most important masters of world cinema. The news of his passing away on Monday touched off a surge of unforgettable images from a number of his films one has watched over the years since 1965, mostly in film society screenings and film festivals.

The first Bergman film that I watched was The Virgin Spring, a harrowing yet faith-strengthening tale of a young girl who is brutally raped and killed. With its stunning black and white photography, it left a lasting impression on the mind of a young cinematographer.

Later, in a retrospective of his films, I saw Wild Strawberries, which probed the mind and soul of a septuagenarian professor as he journeyed in quest of the meaning of life and death. The same retrospective had other riches, among them Smiles of a Summer Night and The Seventh Seal. The knight playing chess with death in The Seventh Seal is an iconic image.

Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, The Silence (which formed Bergman’s famed religious chamber trilogy) and Persona followed. They explored the inner life and the darkest corners of the psyche of the characters, manifested in the relationships between the protagonists. This line of exploration in Bergman’s work attained extraordinary depth in his richly textured Cries and Whispers, my personal favourite. It is the story of a terminally ill woman tended by two sisters who are poles apart as characters, one is reserved but overbearing, the other intense but indecisive. A stark soundtrack and stunning cinematography by Sven Nykvist and an astounding performance by Liv Ullmann raised this film to the status of a great cinematic achievement. And of course who can forget his Scenes from a Marriage and the gorgeous Fanny & Alexander!

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