Instructor’s email: rugg@berkeley.edu

Cross-listed with Film 151, Section 3.

Lab: Tu 6-9, 188 Dwinelle

L&S Breadth: Arts & Literature

What is a “Bergman film”? Can films be authored in the same way as books? This course will examine the work of Sweden’s premier filmmaker, Ingmar Bergman, the phenomenon of his success in the U.S. and worldwide, his contribution to the notions of auteurism and art cinema, his role within Swedish culture, and the problems he poses by linking film and autobiography.

We will read theoretical articles on such topics as the auteur movement, feminism in Bergman’s work, and self-reflexivity and narrative in films, as well as Bergman’s autobiographical and fictional writing, and essays on Bergman’s work by Bergman and others. The class will view a sampling of Bergman’s films from various periods, using close reading techniques to assess the nature of “Bergman films.”

Films to be screened and discussed include: Summer Interlude, Smiles of a Summer Night, Sawdust and Tinsel, Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal, The Magician, Winter Light, The Silence, Persona, Cries and Whispers, Fanny and Alexander, and others.

Texts: to be announced.

Prerequisites: None