Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander is a hauntingly beautiful coming of age story and one of Bergman’s best. I don’t have the talent or wherewithal to give this movie a proper write up and it’s almost too daunting to even try. Also, in a sense, I feel like I’ve seen an incomplete version of the film as well. Originally conceived and aired as a four part TV movie in Sweden, the film was released in truncated, yet a still three plus hour version in the US. The US version is the one I have seen and despite its epic length, the film still feels rushed. I could feel those missing pieces and otherwise powerful moments just don’t feel as if they are allowed to breathe in the space of the scenes.
