The Cinematheque

Vancouver Premiere

The three-hour theatrical cut of Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander that won four Academy Awards (including the director’s third Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film) was Bergman’s truncated version. The Cinematheque is pleased to present, in a new restoration, the Vancouver premiere of the complete, uncut, five-hour version of Bergman’s late-career triumph—the ​“original” edit intended for television and preferred by Bergman. Its sprawling saga begins at Christmas 1907, with ten-year-old Alexander and younger sister Fanny enjoying the warmth and good humour of their ebullient, eccentric extended family. Their lives soon take a less happy turn, however, with the death of their actor father and the remarriage of their mother to a puritanical Protestant minister. An enchanting, wonder-filled evocation of childhood and the magic of theatre, Bergman’s semi-autobiographical tale is shot in gorgeous, glowing images by long-time collaborator Sven Nykvist. Bergman described it as ​“the sum total of my life as a filmmaker.” It may also be the Swedish maestro’s most opulent and optimistic work—an unexpected surprise, perhaps, from an artist long synonymous with Scandinavian austerity and angst! Already a perennial audience favourite and the perfect arthouse Christmas movie, Fanny and Alexander in its full glory proves an even richer and more rewarding experience.