Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman died 30 July 2007 at his home on the Swedish island Faro. Born 14 July 1918 in Uppsala, Sweden, he was nominated for nine Oscars for directing and writing, and won the Directors Guild of America’s lifetime achievement award in 1990.
His films dealt with pain and torment, desire and religion, evil and love. In 1983, Michiko Kakutani described Bergman’s films in The New York Times Magazine: “this world is a place where faith is tenuous; communication, elusive; and self-knowledge, illusory at best.” And that God is either silent or malevolent; men and women are creatures and prisoners of their desires.
French director Bertrand Tavernier said “Bergman was the first to bring metaphysics—religion, death, existentialism—to the screen. But the best of Bergman is the way he speaks of women, of the relationship between men and women. He’s like a miner digging in search of purity.”
Several of his films crossed the line into genre productions, including Fanny and Alexander (1982), Face to Face (1976), The Magic Flute (1975), Hour of the Wolf (1968), The Devil’s Eye (1960), The Virgin Spring (1960), and The Seventh Seal (1957).
His full filmography is available on IMDB.com. In addition to his film career, he also had a stage career, mostly as a director. For a full obituary, see The New York Times.
Bergman was married five times, and fathered several children.