Jan Malmsjö’s bishop in Fanny and Alexander makes a child’s disobedience feel dangerous. We recommend this severe performance without mistaking it for the whole of an actor whose work also includes musicals and cabaret.
Fi1m perspective
Jan Malmsjö’s Bishop Edvard Vergerus expects obedience and sees no reason a child should withhold it. In Fanny and Alexander (1982), he makes that certainty the frightening centre of the character. We were frightened because Malmsjö makes the bishop seem incapable of listening to an objection. Around him, Ingmar Bergman gives us a family drama full of warmth and humour, which makes the severity harder to bear. We recommend the film warmly, but there is nothing comfortable about his part in it.
That severity can give a misleading impression of the actor behind it. Malmsjö’s career has been chiefly on stage, with cabaret and musicals alongside serious drama; his breakthrough was as Lilleman in Stoppa världen – jag vill stiga av (1963). He played the title role in Hamlet (1974) and Albin/Zaza in La Cage aux Folles (1985). His screen work has been more intermittent, including Peter in Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage (1973). Those credits are worth remembering when judging an actor so strongly associated with one severe screen role.
Bergman sets him against Bertil Guve’s stubborn, watchful Alexander, and never pretends their characters are evenly matched. The boy has a will of his own, but Malmsjö makes clear how little that counts for with the bishop. His insistence on obedience makes freedom a practical need for the child, rather than a pleasant idea. Bergman does not soften the abuse by turning it into a lesson in courage. That choice asks us to endure some painful scenes, and Malmsjö’s certainty is what makes them so hard to watch.
Our reservation about Fanny and Alexander concerns the attention given to the children: Fanny deserves more of it. The force of Malmsjö’s scenes with Guve does not remove that imbalance, however compelling they are. The film’s warmth and humour matter just as much as the severity, and keep this from being merely an ordeal. Start here for Malmsjö, but do not expect the family warmth to make the bishop any easier company.
Biography
Jan Malmsjö is a Swedish actor and singer. Born on 29 May 1932 in Lund, he trained at the Royal Dramatic Training Academy from 1950 to 1953.
He is known for stage and musical roles as well as film and television work, including Peter in Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage (1973–1974) and Bishop Edvard Vergerus in Fanny and Alexander (1982). He has also appeared in episodes of the series Combat! (1962). Malmsjö has been married to actress Marie Göranzon since 1974; their son Jonas Malmsjö is also an actor.
