Fanny and Alexander (1982) on Netflix
In a Swedish town, Alexander and Fanny Ekdahl grow up in a theatrical family. After their father Oscar dies, their mother Emilie marries Bishop Edvard Vergérus, who rules his house strictly.
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- IMDb8.1/1071,866 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
The Ekdahls are a well-off family in a Swedish town at the turn of the twentieth century. Oscar and Emilie manage the local theater, and their children, Alexander and Fanny, grow up among a large circle of relatives headed by their grandmother, Helena Ekdahl. At Christmastime the family stages a Nativity play and holds a large party. Oscar dies of a stroke shortly after Christmas, and Emilie, comforted in her grief by Edvard Vergérus, a widowed bishop, marries him. She and the children move into his house, where his mother, sister, aunt and maids also live. Edvard proves a strict and controlling man, and Alexander's invented stories bring him punishment.
Cast
- Kristian Almgrenas Putte Ekdahl - Ekdahlska huset
Show all 20 cast
- Patricia Gélinas Statue - Ekdahlska huset
- Majlis Granlundas Miss Vega - Ekdahlska huset
- Maria Granlundas Petra Ekdahl - Ekdahlska huset
- Olle Hildingas Old Clergyman - Ekdahlska huset
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- While filming, a crossbeam fell in the studio and nearly hit Ingmar Bergman and cinematographer Sven Nykvist, other crew were hurt in accidents, and a male stunt performer playing the burning Aunt Elsa was actually burned by spilled napalm.
- Max von Sydow was first cast as the bishop Edvard, but negotiations grew troubled as he took more work outside Sweden and his agent demanded a larger salary; the role was recast with Jan Malmsjö, whom Bergman had directed in Scenes from a Marriage.
- Bertil Guve was 10 when cast as Alexander, after Bergman saw him in a Lasse Hallström television film; the boy did not know who Bergman was, and Bergman picked him, without explaining the story, when he told of killing his own grandfather at the audition.
- Producer Jörn Donner said he would provide the budget if all production and costume design crew were Swedish, and the estimated 40 million SEK budget made Fanny and Alexander the most costly Swedish film ever.
- Bergman had to cut the complete version to 188 minutes for cinemas, regretting the loss of much of the fantasy material, and said he had to "cut into the nerves and lifeblood of the film".
- Bergman intended the film as his final picture, and wrote a semi-autobiographical script that based Alexander, Fanny and the stepfather Edvard on himself, his sister Margareta and his father Erik Bergman.
- The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film, and that haul was the most any foreign-language film had won until Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Parasite and All Quiet on the Western Front tied the record.
- French director Arnaud Desplechin calls Fanny and Alexander a touchstone for his career, described his own La Vie des Morts as "a complete rip-off of that film", and said that after seeing it, "I became a director."
