It's the early twentieth century Sweden. Adolescent siblings Alexander and Fanny Ekdahl lead a relatively joyous and exuberant life with their well-off extended paternal family, led by the family matriarch, their grandmother, Helena Ekdahl. The openness of the family culture is exemplified by Helena's now deceased husband ending up becoming best friends with one of her lovers, a Jewish puppet maker named Isak Jacobi, and their Uncle Gustav Adolf's open liaison with one of the family maids, Maj, who everyone in the family adores, even Gustav Adolf's wife, Alma. Between the siblings, Alexander in particular has inherited the family's love of storytelling, his parents and his grandmother who are actors and who manage their own theater. Things change for Alexander and Fanny when their father, Oscar, dies shortly after Christmas 1907. Although she truly does believe she loves him, the children's mother, Emilie, decides to marry Bishop Edvard Vergérus, who she first met as the officiate at ...Written by
Huggo
The part of Bishop Edvard Vergérus was written by Ingmar Bergman with Max von Sydow in mind. When the screenplay was completed, von Sydow was contacted about playing the role, which would have been his first in a Bergman film since The Touch (1971). Von Sydow was willing and, in fact, very excited about playing the role. However, Bergman was not aware of this, since von Sydow was in Los Angeles at the time, and could only be reached through his agent who, acting in what he perceived as von Sydow's interest, told Bergman and his producers that von Sydow would only play the role if he could have a percentage of the film's profits, in addition to his salary. The producers, already stretched to their financial limits, of course balked, and told the agent that, sadly, there could be no such compromise, and began looking for other actors to play the pivotal part. By the time von Sydow had learned why his beloved role had been taken from him, Jan Malmsjö had already been cast as the Bishop, and von Sydow lost his chance to star in what would later be known to be Bergman's "last film" (although he would play key roles in The Best Intentions (1992) and Private Confessions (1996), both written by Bergman). Von Sydow was furious about the incident, and, by certain accounts, still harbours a bitter grudge about it to this day. See more »
Goofs
The movie is set around 1905, as can be seen from the "contract" that Gustav Adolf gave Maj early in the movie, but Edvard tells Emilie that he heard that the universe is expanding. Slipher discovered the red shifts in some nebulae/galaxies in 1912, an observation that suggests that these objects are moving away from us; Hubble's law of the expanding universe was published in 1929; and the big bang theory become popular in the 1950s. See more »
Quotes
Emilie Ekdahl - Ekdahlska huset:
Your sister gave me sleeping pills for my insomnia. I put three of them in the broth. I did not intend for you to drink it. While you were checking on Elsa, I put three more in. Soon you will sleep very soundly, and when you wake up, I will be gone.
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Alternate Versions
Theatrical version is 188 minutes long. Director's cut is 312 minutes long. See more »
It's the disclosure of disfunction to children's eyes, the discovery of a world not conceived, or indeed anticipated, a contract broken, of barriers erected and bolstered, mistrust, disbelief and, perhaps more importantly, the formation and flowering of the unique specimen you are likely to become as a result. Film making is not just an exploration of its characters and creators but, more usually, an exploration of you! and how you scale against its mirrors and answer its questions? Why else would you invest so much time into discovering your difference and why you're so resistant to change?
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It's the disclosure of disfunction to children's eyes, the discovery of a world not conceived, or indeed anticipated, a contract broken, of barriers erected and bolstered, mistrust, disbelief and, perhaps more importantly, the formation and flowering of the unique specimen you are likely to become as a result. Film making is not just an exploration of its characters and creators but, more usually, an exploration of you! and how you scale against its mirrors and answer its questions? Why else would you invest so much time into discovering your difference and why you're so resistant to change?