Probably Bergman's most experimental film. Liv Ullman plays an actress who goes mute during a performance, and Bibi Andersson is th nurse who is charged with her care. Bergman exploited the physical similarities between the two women to create a masterpiece (in my opinion, his supreme cinematic achievement) about personality, identity, and female sexuality.

This is likely to be his most famous film, with many famous motifs (the chess game, the dance of death, the procession of the flagellants). A knight returning from a crusade encounters the plague, Death, religious intolerance, and his own agnosticism. In the midst of many horrors, and confronted with the inefficacy of religion to help salve the suffering of man, the knight witnesses the healing potential of self-sacrifice and kindness.

Widely considered Bergman's greatest film (although I profoundly disagree), this is a somewhat uncharacteristically gentle film about a retired academic (played by the great Swedish director Victor Sjöstrom) who, while travelling to receive an award, reflects back on his life, its missed opportunities, and many regrets. Smultronstället is marked by several flashback scenes, woven seamlessly into the narrative thread of the film.

Bergman's most autobiographical film, and also his most accessible, Fanny och Alexander concerns itself with the lives of a brother and sister growingup in Sweden in the ealy part of the 20th Century. After their father dies, their mother marries a strict (some would say evil) clergyman. In spite of this, the film is much lighter in tone than most of Bergman's work, and is photographed beautifully as always by Sven Nyquvist. Allusions to theater in general and Shakespeare in particular abound.

An utterly depressing film about a clergyman (Bergman's own father was the Bishop to the Swedish royal family, hence the large number of clerics in his films), portrayed by Bergman regular Gunnar Björnstrand, who begins to doubt the existence of God. What saves this film from being a trial to watch is the care Bergman took in his script and direction and Björnstrand's virtuoso performance.

Two musicians, a married couple, live together on a remote island. Around them a war is being waged, but the couple feel as if they can distance themselves from it, both psychically and geographically. They are wrong. The man is shown to be a coward and the woman an opportunist. The war intrudes upon their insular lives, ripping apart everything they have, their possessions, their relationship, and their self-respect.

I suppose this film could be glibly titled "Four Women". Three women, two sisters and a servant, watch over a third sister as she dies. This is not even close to being one of my favorite Bergman films, but it is quite highly regarded by most of the director's aficionados, and contains some glorious color cinematography by constant Bergman collaborator Nyquvist. For those mainly interested in exploring Bergman's views on women and matriarchy, this is essential viewing.