---
name: "Ingmar Bergman"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/ingmar-bergman"
fi1m_id: "ingmar-bergman"
imdb_id: "nm0000005"
tmdb_id: 6648
wikidata_id: "Q7546"
roles: ["Writer","Director","Producer"]
born: "14 July 1918"
died: "30 July 2007"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 12
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-26T16:39:39.845110+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Ingmar Bergman

## Identity

Ingmar Bergman

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/ingmar-bergman
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** ingmar-bergman
- **IMDb ID:** nm0000005
- **TMDB ID:** 6648
- **Wikidata ID:** Q7546
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingmar_Bergman, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7546, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000005/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/6648

Writer and director. Born 14 July 1918 in Uppsala, Uppsala län, Sweden. Died 30 July 2007.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Director, Producer
- **Born:** 14 July 1918, Uppsala, Uppsala län, Sweden
- **Died:** 30 July 2007
- **Active:** 1953–2021
- **Also known as:** Ernst Ingmar Bergman, Buntel Eriksson, 잉마르 베리히만, 잉그마르 베르히만
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 12: 11 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Allan Ekelund](https://film.one/person/allan-ekelund.md), [Gunnar Björnstrand](https://film.one/person/gunnar-bjornstrand.md), [Liv Ullmann](https://film.one/person/liv-ullmann.md), [Bibi Andersson](https://film.one/person/bibi-andersson.md), [Harriet Andersson](https://film.one/person/harriet-andersson.md), [Max von Sydow](https://film.one/person/max-von-sydow.md), [Erland Josephson](https://film.one/person/erland-josephson.md), [Ingrid Thulin](https://film.one/person/ingrid-thulin.md)
- **BAFTA Film Awards:** 1 BAFTA (1 won)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1950s 85 (4), 1960s 83 (4), 1970s 88 (2), 1980s 92 (1), 2020s 64 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingmar_Bergman, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7546, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000005/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/6648

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Fanny and Alexander*](https://film.one/film/fanny-and-alexander.md) (92), [*Persona*](https://film.one/film/persona.md) (89), [*Wild Strawberries*](https://film.one/film/wild-strawberries.md) (88), [*The Seventh Seal*](https://film.one/film/the-seventh-seal.md) (88), [*Cries and Whispers*](https://film.one/film/cries-and-whispers.md) (87), [*Through a Glass Darkly*](https://film.one/film/through-a-glass-darkly.md) (82)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Scenes from a Marriage*](https://film.one/film/scenes-from-a-marriage-1974.md) (88)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Ingmar Bergman

> Bergman wrote about faith, marriage and dying as arguments a person might still win, and gave them to people rather than speeches. When the talk runs long the films sag; when he trusts a face, they are among the finest we have reviewed.

A woman in white stands in a red room and cannot make herself touch her dying sister. A knight puts a question to Death and Death declines to answer it. A husband explains why he is leaving, keeps explaining, and the explanation does more damage than the leaving. Ingmar Bergman's people talk, what they say is rarely what they mean, and the difference between the two is the drama. "I write scripts to serve as skeletons awaiting the flesh and sinew of images," he said, and for twenty films the flesh was Sven Nykvist's.

He came out of theatre and screenwriting in the early 1940s and directed his first feature in 1946, but the films that travelled came in the middle of the next decade: *Smiles of a Summer Night* (1955), *The Seventh Seal* (1957), *Wild Strawberries* (1957). Then the rooms got smaller. Through the 1960s and 1970s he wrote chamber pieces for a company he knew by heart, Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson and Bibi Andersson among them, with Nykvist lighting them: *Persona* (1966), *Cries and Whispers* (1972), *Scenes from a Marriage* (1974). *Fanny and Alexander* (1982) was presented as his goodbye to cinemas, and he went on working in television and theatre until his death in 2007.

What he could do that few writers of dialogue can is make an argument about God feel like something happening to a body. *The Seventh Seal* sets up the chess game and then hands long stretches to Gunnar Björnstrand's squire and Nils Poppe's juggler, whose business is getting through the day, and the film is better for their company. *Cries and Whispers* takes the plain duty of sitting with a dying woman and shows a family failing at it; Harriet Andersson makes Agnes's need so urgent that the film's larger meanings hardly matter. And *Fanny and Alexander*, the warmest thing he wrote, contains in Jan Malmsjö's bishop the figure that frightened us most in all his work. A child cannot argue with certainty, and Bergman refuses to hand Alexander a speech that would win.

The faults are a writer's faults. *The Seventh Seal* keeps worrying at a theological point after the scene has made it. *Scenes from a Marriage* lets a quarrel run past the moment we understood it, and at 169 minutes there are several such quarrels. The sisters in *Cries and Whispers* are drawn to a plan, and the red walls press the same note until we feel his hand on our shoulder. *Fanny and Alexander* gives Fanny far less of the film than Alexander. Critics have called him cold and joyless; we do not think so, since the films are full of appetite and coarse jokes, but the habit of saying a thing twice is real.

Start with *Fanny and Alexander*, which is long and does not feel it, with the evening cleared. Save *Scenes from a Marriage* for a night when you are on good terms with whoever is on the sofa beside you.

## Biography

Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. He was born Ernst Ingmar Bergman on 14 July 1918 in Uppsala, Sweden, and died on 30 July 2007 on the island of Fårö.

He directed and wrote the screenplay for *The Seventh Seal* (1957). Other films include *Wild Strawberries* (1957), *Through a Glass Darkly* (1961), *Winter Light* (1963), *Persona* (1966), *Cries and Whispers* (1972), *Autumn Sonata* (1978) and *Fanny and Alexander* (1982). He directed more than 170 stage productions and held positions as leading director at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm and the Residenztheater in Munich.

Bergman collaborated repeatedly with cinematographers Gunnar Fischer and Sven Nykvist, and with actors including Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand and Erland Josephson.

*Sources: britannica.com, en.wikipedia.org, simple.wikipedia.org.*

## On Fi1m (12)

### Directed (11)

- *Fanny and Alexander* (1982), Fi1m 92, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/fanny-and-alexander.md)
- *Scenes from a Marriage* (1974), Fi1m 88, as Voice of the Press Photographer (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/scenes-from-a-marriage-1974.md)
- *Cries and Whispers* (1972), Fi1m 87, as Narrator (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/cries-and-whispers.md)
- *Hour of the Wolf* (1968), Fi1m 74, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/hour-of-the-wolf.md)
- *Persona* (1966), Fi1m 89, Producer, Director, Screenplay, Story — [page](https://film.one/film/persona.md)
- *Winter Light* (1963), Fi1m 88, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/winter-light.md)
- *Through a Glass Darkly* (1961), Fi1m 82, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/through-a-glass-darkly.md)
- *The Seventh Seal* (1957), Fi1m 88, Screenplay, Director, Author — [page](https://film.one/film/the-seventh-seal.md)
- *Wild Strawberries* (1957), Fi1m 88, Screenplay, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/wild-strawberries.md)
- *Smiles of a Summer Night* (1955), Fi1m 84, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/smiles-of-a-summer-night.md)
- *Summer with Monika* (1953), Fi1m 80, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/summer-with-monika.md)

### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these

- *Scenes from a Marriage* (2021), Fi1m 64, Original Series Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/scenes-from-a-marriage-2021.md)

## Complete filmography (126)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *National Theatre Live: Electra/Persona* (2026), Original Story
- *Laterna Magica* (2025), Writer
- *Faithless* (2025), series, Characters, Original Story
- *Fanny och Alexander på Galeasen* (2025), Original Film Writer
- *Confidential Conversations* (2021), Short Story
- *Scenes from a Marriage* (2021), series, Original Series Creator — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/tv/scenes-from-a-marriage-2021.md)
- *Short Cuts: Cries and Whispers* (2020), Original Film Writer
- *Persona* (2019), Original Film Writer
- *The Undefeated Femininity* (2018), Writer
- *Bergman Unpublished* (2017), Actor
- *Ingmar Bergman Through the Choreographer's Eye* (2016), Writer
- *A Spiritual Matter* (2015), Writer
- *Hollywood sul Tevere* (2009), Actor
- *Bergman 101* (2009), Actor
- *Palermo Shooting* (2008), In Memory Of
- *The Ghost Sonata* (2007), Director
- *Döden, motljuset och groggen* (2007), Actor
- *Bergman's Sonata* (2005), Writer
- *Shame: The Search for Humanity* (2004), Actor
- *Saraband* (2003), Director, Writer
- *Filmstaden* (2001), Actor
- *The Image Makers* (2000), Director
- *Faithless* (2000), Writer
- *In the Presence of a Clown* (1998), as Mental patient · Writer, Director
- *Private Confessions* (1996), Writer
- *Harald & Harald* (1996), Director, Writer
- *The Last Gasp* (1995), as Narrator (voice) · Director, Screenplay
- *Unishe April* (1994), Original Concept
- *The Bacchae* (1993), Director
- *The Best Intentions* (1992), Writer
- *Madame de Sade* (1992), Writer, Director
- *Inför Markisinnan de Sade* (1992), Actor
- *Sunday's Children* (1992), Writer
- *The Best Intentions* (1991), series, Writer
- *New York City Opera: A Little Night Music* (1990), Original Story
- *Gotska Sandön* (1987), Producer, Editor
- *Introducing 'Scenes from a Marriage'* (1986), Actor
- *Karin's Face* (1986), Director
- *The Blessed Ones* (1986), Director
- *Dom Juan* (1985), Director
- *Fanny and Alexander* (1984), series, Director, Writer, Creator
- *The Making of Fanny and Alexander* (1984), Director
- *After the Rehearsal* (1984), Writer, Director
- *The School of Wives* (1983), Director
- *Fanny and Alexander* (1982), Director, Writer — Fi1m 92, [page](https://film.one/film/fanny-and-alexander.md)
- *Sally and Freedom* (1981), Producer
- *Victor Sjöström - A Portrait* (1981), Actor
- *Intervju med Ingmar Bergman* (1981), Actor
- *From the Life of the Marionettes* (1980), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Fårö Document 1979* (1979), as Ingmar Bergman · Script, Director
- *Min älskade* (1979), Producer
- *The Making of Autumn Sonata* (1978), Director, Writer
- *Autumn Sonata* (1978), Screenplay, Director
- *Rätt ut i luften* (1978), Producer
- *Ingmar Bergman at 60* (1978), as Interviewee
- *The Serpent's Egg* (1977), Writer, Director
- *Ingmar Bergman inszeniert: „Ein Traumspiel“ von August Strindberg. Beobachtungen bei der Arbeit am Bayerischen Staatsschauspiel* (1977), Actor
- *Summer Paradise* (1977), Producer
- *The Dance of the Damned Women* (1976), Director, Producer, Writer
- *Confessions of a Fool* (1976), series, Producer
- *Face to Face* (1976), series, Director, Writer, Creator
- *Face to Face* (1976), Director, Writer
- *Three Scenes with Ingmar Bergman* (1976), Actor
- *The Magic Flute* (1975), as Man in Audience (uncredited) · Screenplay, Director
- *Scenes from a Marriage* (1974), as Voice of the Press Photographer (uncredited) · Writer, Director — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/scenes-from-a-marriage-1974.md)
- *The Misanthrope* (1974), Director
- *The Lie* (1973), Writer
- *Scenes from a Marriage* (1973), series, as Pressfotografens röst (voice, uncredited) · Director, Writer, Creator
- *Cries and Whispers* (1972), as Narrator (voice) · Director, Screenplay, Producer — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/film/cries-and-whispers.md)
- *The Touch* (1971), Director, Writer, Producer
- *The Lie* (1970), Writer
- *The Lie* (1970), Writer
- *Play for Today* (1970), series, Writer
- *Fårö Document* (1970), Director
- *The Passion of Anna* (1969), as Narrator (voice) (uncredited) · Writer, Director
- *The Rite* (1969), as Priest · Director, Writer
- *Shame* (1968), Director, Screenplay
- *Hour of the Wolf* (1968), Director, Writer — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/hour-of-the-wolf.md)
- *Stimulantia* (1967), Director of Photography, Director, Writer
- *Daniel* (1967), Director
- *Persona* (1966), Screenplay, Producer, Director, Story — Fi1m 89, [page](https://film.one/film/persona.md)
- *Don Juan* (1965), series, Director, Creator
- *All These Women* (1964), Screenplay, Director
- *The Silence* (1963), Director, Screenplay
- *A Dream Play* (1963), Director
- *Wood Painting* (1963), Writer
- *Skäggen* (1963), series, Actor
- *Winter Light* (1963), Director, Writer — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/winter-light.md)
- *The City* (1962), Writer
- *The Pleasure Garden* (1961), Writer
- *Through a Glass Darkly* (1961), Screenplay, Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/through-a-glass-darkly.md)
- *The Devil's Eye* (1960), Director, Screenplay
- *The Virgin Spring* (1960), Director, Producer
- *The Storm* (1960), Director
- *The Magician* (1958), Writer, Director
- *Rabies* (1958), Director
- *Brink of Life* (1958), Director, Writer
- *The Venetian* (1958), Director
- *The Minister of Uddarbo* (1957), as Additional Writing
- *Night Light* (1957), Scenario Writer
- *Behind the Scenes of Wild Strawberries* (1957), Director, Producer, Cinematography
- *Wild Strawberries* (1957), Screenplay, Director — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/wild-strawberries.md)
- *Mr. Sleeman Is Coming* (1957), Director
- *The Seventh Seal* (1957), Screenplay, Director, Author — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/the-seventh-seal.md)
- *Last Pair Out* (1956), Screenplay
- *Smiles of a Summer Night* (1955), Screenplay, Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/smiles-of-a-summer-night.md)
- *Dreams* (1955), as Man with a poodle at the hotel · Writer, Director
- *A Lesson in Love* (1954), Writer, Director, Art Direction
- *Sawdust and Tinsel* (1953), Writer, Director
- *Summer with Monika* (1953), Director, Writer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/summer-with-monika.md)
- *Waiting Women* (1952), as Man in the Stairs at the Gynecologist's (uncredited) · Director, Writer
- *Divorced* (1951), Screenplay
- *Summer Interlude* (1951), Director, Writer
- *This Can't Happen Here* (1950), Director
- *While the City Sleeps* (1950), Screenplay
- *To Joy* (1950), as Expecting Father at the Maternity Ward (uncredited) · Director, Writer
- *Thirst* (1949), Director
- *Prison* (1949), Director, Writer
- *Eva* (1948), Screenplay, Novel
- *Port of Call* (1948), Director, Screenplay
- *Music in Darkness* (1948), as A Train Passenger Reading a Newspaper (uncredited) · Director
- *A Ship to India* (1947), as Man in Beret at Fairground (uncredited) · Director, Screenplay
- *Woman Without a Face* (1947), Writer
- *It Rains on Our Love* (1946), Screenplay, Director
- *Crisis* (1946), Director, Writer
- *Torment* (1944), Writer, Assistant Director

## Gallery

- ![Ingmar Bergman](https://film.one/media/person/106075/gallery-a8e29ec9e4ab.jpg) Ingmar Bergman — Joost Evers / Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Ingmar_Bergman_%281966%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![A black and white portrait of a young Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish film director, (1940)](https://film.one/media/person/106075/gallery-607775258f28.jpg) A black and white portrait of a young Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish film director, (1940) — Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/A-portrait-of-the-Swedish-film-director-Ingmar-Bergman-352117610185.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Photograph of the Swedish actor Harriet Andersson and director Ingmar Bergman during their visit to Helsinki.](https://film.one/media/person/106075/gallery-ee2150310a11.jpg) Photograph of the Swedish actor Harriet Andersson and director Ingmar Bergman during their visit to Helsinki. — AnonymousUnknown author / Ilta-Sanomat, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Andersson-Bergman-1953.jpg/1280px-Andersson-Bergman-1953.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Filmfotograf Gunnar Fischer (bakom kameran) under inspelningen för "Kvinnors väntan", till höger Ingmar Bergman och på sängen Maj Britt Nilsson. (1952)](https://film.one/media/person/106075/gallery-79baf551b3b0.jpg) Filmfotograf Gunnar Fischer (bakom kameran) under inspelningen för "Kvinnors väntan", till höger Ingmar Bergman och på sängen Maj Britt Nilsson. (1952) — Louis Huch, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Bergman%2C_Fischer%2C_Nilsson_1952.jpg/1280px-Bergman%2C_Fischer%2C_Nilsson_1952.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ingmar Bergman](https://film.one/media/person/106075/gallery-a3930f6286d3.jpg) Ingmar Bergman — Image via TMDB
- ![Ingmar Bergman](https://film.one/media/person/106075/gallery-ad85018013f7.jpg) Ingmar Bergman — Image via TMDB
- ![Ingmar Bergman](https://film.one/media/person/106075/gallery-4ddcaa65eb70.jpg) Ingmar Bergman — Image via TMDB
- ![Photograph of actor Bengt Ekerot and director Ingmar Bergman during the principal photography of The Seventh Seal. (1956)](https://film.one/media/person/106075/gallery-0ea7fff2ca08.jpg) Photograph of actor Bengt Ekerot and director Ingmar Bergman during the principal photography of The Seventh Seal. (1956) — Louis Huch / Svensk Filmindustri, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Bergman-Ekerot-1956.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Press conference of Ingmar Bergman at The Venice film festival in 1985](https://film.one/media/person/106075/gallery-bddcdbc2a008.jpg) Press conference of Ingmar Bergman at The Venice film festival in 1985 — Gorup de Besanez, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Bergman_01.jpg/1280px-Bergman_01.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ingmar Bergman](https://film.one/media/person/106075/gallery-396a77debfb2.jpg) Ingmar Bergman — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 9 nominated

- 1984: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Fanny and Alexander*
- 1984: Best Director (nominated), for *Fanny and Alexander*
- 1979: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Autumn Sonata*
- 1977: Best Director (nominated), for *Face to Face*
- 1974: Best Director (nominated), for *Cries and Whispers*
- 1974: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Cries and Whispers*
- 1974: Best Picture (nominated), for *Cries and Whispers*
- 1963: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Through a Glass Darkly*
- 1960: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Wild Strawberries*

### BAFTA Film Awards — 1 won

- 1988: BAFTA Fellowship (won)

### Cannes Film Festival — 1 won

- 1958: Cannes Best Director Award (won), for *Brink of Life*

### Berlin International Film Festival — 1 won

- 1958: Golden Bear (won)

### Other awards — 11 won, 1 nominated

- honorary doctor of the University Lille-III 1995: honorary doctor of the University Lille-III (won)
- Guldbagge Award for Best Screenplay 1992: Guldbagge Award for Best Screenplay (won), for *The Best Intentions*
- Praemium Imperiale 1991: Praemium Imperiale (won)
- European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award 1988: European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award (won)
- doctor honoris causa from the Paris-Sorbonne University 1986: doctor honoris causa from the Paris-Sorbonne University (won)
- César Award 1984: César Award (won), for *Fanny and Alexander*
- Guldbagge Award for Best Director 1983: Guldbagge Award for Best Director (won), for *Fanny and Alexander*
- César Award for Best Foreign Film 1976: César Award for Best Foreign Film (nominated), for *The Magic Flute*
- Goethe Prize of the City of Frankfurt 1976: Goethe Prize of the City of Frankfurt (won)
- Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award 1970: Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (won)
- Erasmus Prize 1965: Erasmus Prize (won)
- Guldbagge Award for Best Director 1964: Guldbagge Award for Best Director (won), for *The Silence*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/ingmar-bergman