Bergman: A Year in Life

1957 was an important year for Ingmar Bergman, mainly because that was when The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries premiered, which earned him a place in cinematic pantheon of the time. Jane Magnusson's documentary focuses on this moment in his career, but it also deals with the years that led up to that moment and the period that followed, covering, in fact, the director's entire life. The portrait that emerges from the meandering narrative is surprisingly ambivalent. On the one hand, Bergman is presented as a great artist, rightly admired and rewarded. On the other hand, issues related to his difficult character are taken up again and again: his mythomania, egoism, despotism and tendency for betrayal. In short, the film gives us something more than yet another two-dimensional puff piece.