The Ingmar Bergman Special Edition DVD Collection (Persona / Shame / Hour of the Wolf / The Passion of Anna / The Serpent's Egg)
by Ingmar Bergman
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Bj?rnstrand, J?rgen Lindstr?m, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha KrookDirector: Ingmar Bergman
Primary Contributor: Bibi Andersson
Primary Contributor: Liv Ullmann
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Letterboxed, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 459 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-04-27
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM
Movie Reviews of The Ingmar Bergman Special Edition DVD Collection (Persona / Shame / Hour of the Wolf / The Passion of Anna / The Serpent's Egg)
Movie Review: Great Movies, Masterpieces.... mediocre MGM DVD management
Summary: 4 Stars
The "Personality Disintegration" collection
I can spend hours (and pages) talking about Bergman and what his work means to me and how it still affects generations of movie makers all over the world.. but i can't here
You may like Ingmar Bergman or not.This will never change the fact that he's one of the most important movie makers in the modern cinema (period)
He started movie making in the40's (while keeping up with his Theatre)
It wasn't until the 50's when he made his international breakthrough (Smiles of the summer nights, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries)
But his "real" breakthrough was when he started (1961: Through a glass darkly)a brand new technique in cinema (The Chamber Cinema), helped by a brilliant cinematographer (Sven Nykvist)
In 1966, Bergman started (also on his island Faro) a new theme, Personality Disintegration of the modern man (i.e. Post Modern cinema).
This collection has all the movies of the era (1966-1969): Persona/Hour of The Wolf/Shame/The Passion of Anna,and one from 1977 (different theme): The Serpent's Egg. The collection also has an extra DVD with extra features about Bergman in that era.
This era (1960's) was Bergman most intense production... a climax.
Persona (1966), is the most experimental movie he ever made, a "masterpiece" in psycho-analysis. A growing relation between an actress (Liv Ullman) and her nurse (Bibi Anderson) after the actress decided to stop talking.
Also it's one of his early "self-conscious cinema" works.This movie started the "disintegration" theme.and his closure was "It's All Nothing!"
Hour of the Wolf (1968), featuring Max Von Sydow (from the seventh seal), is a "beautiful" presentation about the inner demons and ghosts, and the struggle, the film starts and ends just like a documentary...(in a form of an horror movie)trying to find the reason for the disappearance of the artist.The actor(Sydow) will lead also the 2 remaining movies of this series, a continuous universal destruction.
While Hour of The wolf is a struggle with one's internal monsters, Shame (1968) is a struggle with the outside world chaos and horror:The War,and how the outside non-logical violence will "decompensate" the fragile equilibrium of the protagonist,leading to another example (but basically the same) disintegration.
The Passion of Anna (1969),is my "personal favorite" of this era(though it's not considered as important as Persona)it's his most "free form" cinema made, and the complete and ultimate humiliation and disintegration of the modern man (the artist... etc)
At the end of the movie, Bergman zooms in at the actor till he physically "disintegrate" and you can listen to Bergman's voice saying: "This time they call him Andreas Winkelman"... indicating it's universal and continuous...
The Serpent's Egg (1977) is far from this era (but it's also an MGM so...let's fit it in)...one of his only two "English talking" works (other than the touch)... a very pessimistic movie... done when Bergman was in exile (forced to leave Sweden for a Tax issue... that turned to be nothing later)... it's one of his rare works that indicates a place and time (Germany 1920's) and the horror then... the leader actor is David Carradine (Bill... in Kill Bill Vol2) with Liv Ullman.
Over all this collection is very "precious" since it collects these "high peaks" in his works (1966-1969), there's a very mediocre audio commentary by Marc Gervais (but I prefer Peter Cowie who did a better job elsewhere)... I learned from elsewhere that MGM chopped the original movies to fit on those DVD...subsequently they got rid of a lot of materials (instead of providing full versions available), something that emphasizes the feeling that only respectful art-house DVD brands (like the prestigious CRITERION COLLECTION) should be dealing with priceless pieces like these -no matter how overpriced they might be-.
So instead of 5 stars, I'm giving only 4... for bad bad execution.
But after all it remains a BERGMAN !!!!
Summary of The Ingmar Bergman Special Edition DVD Collection (Persona / Shame / Hour of the Wolf / The Passion of Anna / The Serpent's Egg)
Disc 1: HOUR OF THE WOLF SE Disc 2: PASSION OF ANNA SE Disc 3: PERSONA SE Disc 4: THE SERPENT'S EGG SE Disc 5: SHAME SE Disc 6: BONUS DISCThere is no denying this fact: Ingmar Bergman's films are true commitments. Though averaging only an hour and a half in length, the psychological depth, the magnitude of human exploration, and the emotional rollercoaster you embark on while watching his films can stick with you for a lifetime. According to Bergman, "No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls." By the mid-sixties, Bergman was about to show the world how far the medium film could go. He began to move away from his Seventh Seal style into the dreamlike, deconstructive, nonlinear realm that would continue throughout his career. This DVD set wonderfully captures all his landmark films of the late 1960s marking this significant transition. Each film stars Liv Ullmann, Bergman's beautiful muse, and involves another longtime collaborator, cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Each film has been remastered, and is presented in its unedited theatrical version loaded with pertinent extras, including a featurette on each film, interviews with cast members (every disc has an on-camera interview with Liv Ullmann), a feature-length commentary by Bergman biographer Marc Gervais on four of the films, and a wonderfully surprising commentary by David Carradine on The Serpent's Egg. Couple these films with an extra disc of supplemental material and you have yourself an incredible Ingmar Bergman film festival. --Rob Bracco
The Films:
In Persona (1966), Elisabeth Vogler (Live Ullmann) has stopped speaking and withdrawn from the world. At her doctor's orders, she moves to a remote cottage to be watched over by Nurse Alma (Bibi Andersson). To fill the silence, Nurse Alma talks aloud to her silent listener and slowly lays out her soul and identity to her patient. In essence, the nurse becomes the patient herself. If the extent of your Bergman exposure is The Seventh Seal, be prepared to get blown away by this film's hallucinatory, multilayered exploration in identity and personality. The hallucinatory analysis of personal identify continues with the haunting The Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen) (1968). Artist Johan Berg (Max von Sydow) is desperately trying hold on to his sanity, while being haunted by his demons. His wife (Ullmann) is trying to help, but also begins to share Johan's hallucinations. As they both begin a downward spiral Ullmann has to make a painful decision between the love of her husband or her own sanity. Shame (Skammen) (1968) stars von Sydow and Ullmann as a couple in the midst of a civil war. They escape to their farm for safety only to be haunted by the soldiers that invade their home. The Passion of Anna (En Passion) (1969) again stars von Sydow and Ullmann. Andreas and Anna live on a remote island with a neighboring couple. While trying to escape the skeletons of their pasts, they each seek solace in one another, even as their lives are torn apart by deception, isolation and psychological turmoil. The last film in the set is a leap forward to 1977. The Serpent's Egg (Das Schlangenei) may be the weakest of the set, but by no means is it a lesser film. It tells the tale of two Jewish trapeze artists trapped in Berlin during the Nazis regime. Bergman would only turn out three more feature films before disappearing into retirement. --Rob Bracco
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