"Actor: Gunnel Lindblom"

• The Seventh Seal | Blu Ray | (03/12/2007) from £22.98   |  Saving you £4.00 (19.06%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Ingmar Bergman's classic drama celebrates its 50th anniversary with this cinematic re-issue.

• The Silence | DVD | (19/11/2001) from £8.39   |  Saving you £14.59 (270.18%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The third in Ingmar Bergman's trilogy of "chamber works" featuring characters in isolated, existentially dramatic settings, The Silence, made in 1963, is set in Timoka, a fictional Eastern European town with its own made-up language. Stylistically more sensual and maximal than its austere predecessors Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light, it was both a success and a scandal in its day, featuring as it does scenes of masturbation, sex and even lesbian eroticism. Jorgen Lindstrom plays Jonas, a small boy travelling with his mother Anna (Gunnel Lindblom) and aunt Ester (Ingrid Thulin). His aunt is dying of consumption, but his mother is a great deal more alive and smouldering with sexual energy. As the tension between the bedridden aunt and the frustrated mother mounts, Jonas roams the hotel corridors and chances almost surreally upon the hotels only other occupants--an elderly floor waiter and a troupe of performing dwarves. Meanwhile, his mother is picked up by a waiter in a cafe, is seduced by him in a church then engages in a traumatically miserable bout of hotel sex. Sultry, full of incident and dreamlike cinematic spectacle (the performing dwarves, a rumbling tank, an overheated railway carriage) there's a sense of aimlessness and oblivion about The Silence, in which the godlessness of the universe, though never discussed, is implied throughout the movie. There is, however, a note of humanist hope struck in the conclusion, more convincing than the platitudinous finale of Through a Glass Darkly. On the DVD: Bergman's notes explain how he had long nurtured the notion of setting a movie in an imaginary city where "the rules of society cease to exist", and how the young boy's curious wanderings were inspired by his first exposure to Stockholm as a child. Critic Philip Strick's notes reveal that Greta Garbo had at one point been mooted to make a return to the screen in this film and that in certain countries, censors insisted on separate screenings of The Silence for males and females. --David Stubbs

• Winter Light | DVD | (19/11/2001) from £10.35   |  Saving you £9.64 (93.14%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The second of an Ingmar Bergman trilogy, 1962's Winter Light is a deliberate repudiation of the "God is love" message of its predecessor Through a Glass Darkly. Gunnar Bjornstrand stars as Tomas, a pastor in a remote parish tending to a dwindling congregation, as tense and distracted as David--the novelist Bjornstrand plays in Through a Glass Darkly. He finds himself trying to counsel a local fisherman Jonas, who is plagued by a sense of impending atomic doom but realises that the religious platitudes he consoles him with--"put your faith in the Lord"--are mere drivel. He himself is wracked by religious doubts, unable to tolerate "God's silence" and unable to prevent the fisherman from committing suicide. He finds himself taking out his inner woe on his eczema-riddled mistress, played by an unflatteringly made up Ingrid Thulin. Described by Bergman's own wife as a "dreary masterpiece", the synopsis to Winter Light seems almost comically miserable, yet this passion play is gripping in its unsparing bleakness, bathed in the stark illumination implied by the title, ironically akin to the light of a religious epiphany. Released at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, its preoccupations and all-pervasive anxieties are especially apt. On the DVD: Bergman's own notes reveal that Winter Lightis among his own favourites and he explains the evolution of the film's ideas at some length. Critic Philip Strick's background notes reveal that Gunnar Bjornstrand was exhausted and ill for much of the making of the film, which doubtless enhanced his anguished performance here. --David Stubbs

• The Seventh Seal | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £10.35   |  Saving you £9.64 (93.14%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ingmar Bergman's classic drama celebrates its 50th anniversary with this cinematic re-issue.

• The Seventh Seal | DVD | (24/09/2001) from £11.39   |  Saving you £8.60 (75.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ingmar Bergman's classic drama celebrates its 50th anniversary with this cinematic re-issue.

• The Virgin Spring | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £10.35   |  Saving you £9.64 (93.14%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Made in 1960 and set in mediaeval Sweden, Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring is based on a folk ballad. It also examines a society in transition from worshipping the old Norse gods to Christianity. The film starkly contrasts Ingeri--a dark, feral Odin-worshipping brunette, foster daughter to a Christian family headed by Max Von Sydow--and their own daughter, Karin, pretty and blonde but also vain and naive, and resented by Ingeri. They travel out together to a distant church where Karin is to offer votive candles to the Virgin Mary. However, en route, Karin is raped and murdered by two desperate goatherders, accompanied by a 13-year-old boy. By coincidence, the goatherders then seek refuge with Karin's parents and even try to sell them her clothes, which proves to be a mortal error. Bergman was greatly influenced by Kurosawa, the Japanese director of The Seven Samurai, when he made The Virgin Spring, as evinced in its ominous use of dark and shade and lengthy sequences without dialogue. However, this is more than pastiche. Although the Christian ending with which Bergman feels obliged to conclude the film doesn't quite sit well in a movie in which God is as palpably absent as in any Bergman movie, the slow, remorseless pace of the murder and subsequent retribution bring to mind Kieslowki's A Short Film About Killing in their sense of the futility of vengeance. On the DVD: The Virgin Spring arrives on disc in a restoration that vividly enhances the sense of light and shade which is integral to the movie. Notes from critic Phillip Strick provide background to the movie, including the legend on which the film was based, as well as observing that Bergman was later so embarrassed by the film's debt to Kurosawa that he disowned it, only to be told by Kurosawa himself not to be so silly. --David Stubbs

• Scenes From A Marriage | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £8.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (122.36%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage opens with a couple--Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and Johann (Erland Josephson)--being interviewed for a magazine. Every moment seems to teeter on the brink of some rupture; just as they start to get comfortable, the interviewer has them freeze for a photograph. After making some bland, general statements, they both start admitting intimate details, confessing that they were brought together by mutual misery, then cheerfully claiming that theirs is a model marriage. The entirety of Scenes from a Marriage--which chronicles their emotional relationship even after a divorce and marriages to other people--continues to have these contradictions, moments of honesty and self-deception, of cruelty and kindness, concern and self-obsession, all laid bare by the skilful actors and the subtle, constantly shifting screenplay. Every scene is a small movie unto itself; in fact, Scenes from a Marriage was originally a six-episode TV show, carefully edited down into a unified film. This is one of Bergman's most immediate and accessible works, concerned more with the facts of human behaviour than symbolism or abstract themes. Bergman understands how to balance what could be horrible pain and despair with the characters' earnest efforts to improve their lives. His imitators reduce everything to sheer suffering and alienation; Bergman sees the best in his characters, even when their actions are terrible. This 1973 film won numerous awards, including several acting honours for Ullmann. --Bret Fetzer

• Bergman - the Faith Trilogy (Through a Glass Darkly / Winter Light / The Silence) | DVD | (28/01/2008) from £15.45   |  Saving you £14.54 (94.11%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Between 1961 and 1963, Ingmar Bergman embarked on three films thematically concerned with man's relationship to God and the futility of spiritual belief. Together, The Faith Trilogy proved a turning point for the director, securing his collaboration with cinematographer Sven Nykvist and exhibiting his mastery for direction. Through a Glass Darkly (1961): A schizophrenic girl has visions, believing that God's presence is ever closer. However as her descent into madness deepens, ...

• Essential Bergman Collection | DVD | (05/12/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Wild Strawberries (1957): The film that catapulted Ingmar Bergman to the forefront of world cinema is the director's richest most humane movie. Traveling to receive an honorary degree professor Isak Borg (masterfully played by the veteran Swedish director Victor Sjostrom) is forced to face his past come to terms with his faults and accept his approaching death. Through flashbacks and fantasies dreams and nightmares Wild Strawberries captures a startling voyage of self-dis

• Rapture (Dual Format) | Blu Ray | (28/07/2014) from £17.53   |  Saving you £0.46 (2.62%)   |  RRP £17.99

  An international co-production made on location along the Brittany coastline Rapture is one of the most remarkable coming of-age films ever made and with its vivid atmosphere and emotional acuity is one of the most striking and neglected studio projects of the 1960s. Three years after she shot to prominence in the classic Sundays and Cybele Patricia Gozzi gives an extraordinary performance as the young girl whose isolated existence under her overbearing father Melvyn Douglas (Ninotchka). Is turned on its head with the sudden arrival of a seductive fugitive from the law Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap). With a supporting cast including Gunnel Lindblom Sylvia Kay (Wake in Fright BBC TV's Just Good Friends) and Peter Sallis (Last of the Summer Wine) stunningly expressive black and white Cinemascope visuals and an exquisite score by Georges Delerue Rapture is an astonishing rediscovery presented for the first time on home video in the UK in a new high-definition restoration. Special Features: New exclusive commentary with film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redmon Booklet featuring an essay by critic Mike Sutton Vintage Stills

• The Seventh Seal | DVD | (28/01/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  As the Black Death continues to wipe out the population of Europe Knight Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow) returns from the crusades. Disillusioned and worn he encounters Death and makes a bargain - his fate will be determined by a game of chess. Taking a troupe of travelling players and a deaf girl under his protection the knight plays the game with Death who as the pieces fall exacts his toll. All the while the villages and towns about them fall into ruin and religion takes a stranglehold. This beautifully restored edition is presented here with previously unseen on-set footage shot during the film's production in late 1956 and is complimented by Bergman's powerful and evocative short film Karin's Face.

• The Ingmar Bergman Collection | DVD | (27/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £299.99

  This collection brings together all the works of master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. With a jaw dropping 30 features (over 47 hours of film!) plus a limited edition exclusive book reprint of Talking With Ingmar Bergman' - a rare transcript of three seminars Bergman gave in Dallas in 1983 - this monolith of a collection is sure to delight the hard core fans! Features Comprise: 1. After the Rehearsal 2. All These Women 3. Autumn Sonata 4. Cries and Whispers 5. Crisis 6. Dreams 7. Farodokument 79 8. From The Life of the Marionettes 9. A Lesson in Love 10. The Magician 11. Music in Darkness 12. Persona 13. Port of Call 14. Prison 15. The Rite 16. Saraband 17. Scenes From a Marriage 18. The Seventh Seal 19. The Silence 20. Smiles of a Summer Night 21. Summer Interlude 22. Summer With Monika 23. Three Strange Loves 24. Through a Glass Darkly 25. Torment 26. To Joy 27. The Virgin Spring 28. Waiting Women 29. Wild Strawberries 30. Winter Light