Has there ever been a more radiant star in the movie firmament? She told me once in an interview that she was just a Swedish hausfrau, but her daughter, Isabella Rossellini, told me decades later that her mother had often used that line with journalists, and it was just silliness on her part. Bergman was many things—passionate, shy, invincibly charming, adventurous, ambitious in her career, heedless in love and wounded deeply by America’s vicious reaction to her extramarital affair with the Italian director Roberto Rossellini. (“Out of Ingrid Bergman’s ashes will grow a better Hollywood,” a U.S. senator declared on the Senate floor.) She is revealed in all her complexity by Mr. Björkman’s film, in which passages from his subject’s letters, notes and diaries are read by the fine young Swedish actress Alicia Vikander. “I don’t demand much,” the film quotes her as saying. “I just want everything.” She got a lot, and gave immeasurably more.
Through never-before-seen private footage, notes, letters, diaries and interviews with her children, INGRID BERGMAN – IN HER OWN WORDS presents a personal portrait and captivating look behind the scenes of the remarkable life of a young Swedish girl who became one of the most beloved and celebrated actresses of American cinema.
Winner: Audience Award, Best International Documentary, VIFF & 100% Fresh, Rotten Tomatoes
“A rich, generous-spirited portrait of a woman who, in her unapologetic pursuit of art, fame and personal growth, was far ahead of her time.” Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
“Vivid and enlightening.” Sam Weisberg, Village Voice
Screens at Vancity Theatre January 15-28, 2016
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First two paragraphs originally Posted Nov, 15. 2015
by JOE MORGENSTERN, Wall Street Journal
To view the original article, click here.
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