"What I have always felt strongly
•is that "the practice of art is an excorcism,.
a ritual act an intercession, a satisfaction of the inner need
•.
Ingmar Bergman.
The following is a journey into the life and artistic work of the great film director Ingmar Bergman. It is an exploration of those elements in his life which served to inspire his creative force, and thematic interests, and finally how these themes are reflected in that particular element of filmmaking known as Mise en Scene.
There are three major thematic elements at play throughout the majority of films made by Bergman: Death, Love, and God. All of which are extensively interreated and have deep meaning and importance in the life of Ingmar Bergman.
LIFE.
Bergman id quoted in one of his interviews as saying to make a film "is to plunge into the very depths of childhood
•. Bergman's early childhood expirieces are so intimately connected to his film making that no analysis of his work would be complete without acknowledging their impact. However in attributing his creativity to his early childhood he is not referring to an external reality. But to those psychological forces which stimulated his vivid imagination and set certain patterns in operation. .
He once commented on his childhood saying "when I think back it must have been a very happy and very beutiful childhood
• But he also remembers the horrors of childhood: the sense of insecurity, guilt, alienation, and rejection. .
He traces this back to his parents. His father was a minister of some renown and respect, who eventually gained a post as minister to the Royal Family. His mother was, Karin was from a family of well respected ministers and schoolmen, of upper middle class stock. Both of whom were cousins. Ingmars sister Margritta commented on the fundamental difference in demeanor between the two.
This essay will look at many similar as well as contrasting themes between the movies Citizen Kane (1941) and Casablanca(1942). Citizen Kane and Casablanca were produced a year apart, but each came to the screen from different places. While Casablanca was based upon an earlier screenplay, Citizen K...