Fanny och Alexander

Alternative title: Fanny and Alexander
Synopsis: Feature film. Set in a Swedish provincial town in 1907 depicting the lives of the theatrical Ekdahl family through their siblings Fanny and Alexander. After a Christmas celebration, their beloved father, Oskar, dies. Their mother, Emilie, soon afterwards marries Bishop Vergerus and the children are placed under his unforgiving and puritanical rule. Writers have cited several plot parallels with Hamlet. When the father has his heart attack he is rehearsing the part of the Ghost in Hamlet in an amateur production in the family theatre. Emilies’s hasty remarriage is akin to Gertrude’s marriage to Claudius and her son Alexander, like Hamlet, is estranged from the couple. Oskar’s ghost also returns several times to express his concern for the children.
Language: Swedish
Country: Germany; France; Sweden
Medium: Film
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1982
Notes: The uncut television version of the film is available on dvd released by Artificial Eye (in Region 2) and The Criterion Collection (in Region 1). The Criterion Collection edition is anamorphically enhanced and is released as three separate sets: the theatrical version, the television version , and a behind-the scenes film. The Criterion Collection includes commentary by Bergman’s biographer Peter Cowie which alludes to Shakespeare.
Keywords: Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Amateur theatre