Tag: Ingmar Bergman

Intuition and Intellect – Ingmar Bergman Quote

Intuition, says Ingmar Bergman, is the essence of creativity and the foundation of his unparalleled success as a film maker.

”I make all my decisions on intuition,” said the 62-year-old Swedish director. ”But then, I must know why I made that decision. I throw a spear into the darkness. That is intuition. Then I must send an army into the darkness to find the spear. That is intellect.”

In a rare public appearance, Mr. Bergman spoke today of success and failure, creativity and laziness to drama students at Southern Methodist University. A Lazy Man at Heart

”I’m very, very lazy,” conceded Mr. Bergman. ”I love to sit in a chair and look out the window and do nothing. Writing is boring, very boring, and it takes so much patience.”

”You feel that this is going to be the best scene ever made and you want to protect it from others,” he added. But the magic dissipates and is replaced by tedium when it comes time to write, a task Mr. Bergman clearly disdains despite his success at it.

May 8, 1981

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/08/movies/ingmar-bergman-confides-in-students.html

Ingmar Bergman’s Greenroom in the Sky

A few years ago, when Lars Lofgren was still head of the Dramaten, he and Bergman walked past the greenroom, a spacious place full of oil paintings of the theater’s old luminaries and big pieces of well-upholstered furniture, which five it the cozy feel of a gentleman’s club. The greenroom door was open, so Bergman walked in. Nobody was there. Lofgren recalls, “‘Listen!’ Bergman said. I couldn’t hear a thing. ‘What is it?’ I said. Bergman said, ‘They’re all here.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘The actors,’ Bergman said. ‘They’re not finished with the theater.'” Lofgren continues, “He looked around the room and turned to me and very lovingly said, ‘One day, we will be with them.'”

Joy Ride – Show People & Their Shows
John Lahr

Ingmar Bergman Visits Charles Bronson on Set

“Ingmar wanted to visit a working set. Charlie is out here shooting Breakheart Pass, and I got Tom Gries to invite him onto the lot. I introduce him to Charlie. They both know I work for them through Kohner. Charlie says, ‘This is just an action picture, Mr. Bergman. Nothing like what you make.’ Ingmar says, ‘No, no! I am fascinated! Tell me what you are doing today.’ Charlie says, ‘Well, I get shot.’ He takes off his shirt and shows his trick vest. ‘This vest has these little squibs that explode and release fake blood. But you know all this stuff. You make movies.’ Ingmar says, ‘No, no! I’ve never seen this before.’ Charlie says, ‘You mean… you don’t use machine guns in your pictures?’ ”

Ebert, Roger. Life Itself: A Memoir

Winter Light

Winter-Light-1962-3

Like Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light describes God as a “spider-god,” with Winter Light explaining the metaphor when Tomas relates the spider-god to suffering, as opposed to his previous ideas of a God of love that provides comfort. The ending may mean Tomas has decided God does not exist, or that Tomas learns he must keep his faith because all Christians, including Jesus, grapple with God’s silence. In Bergman’s view, Winter Light represents the end of his study on whether God exists, after which human love became his main concern.

via wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Light