Fanny And Alexander (5DVD Special Edition) Criterion DVD

• 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono (English)
• 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono (Swedish)
• New, restored high-definition digital transfers
• Ingmar Bergman's feature-length documentary The Making of Fanny Alexander, presented here for the first time on DVD in a new high-definition digital transfer
• Ingmar Bergman Bids Farewell to Film, a one-hour conversation between Bergman and Nils Petter Sundgren made for Swedish television in 1984
• Audio commentary on the theatrical version by film scholar Peter Cowie
• A Bergman Tapestry, a new documentary featuring exclusive interviews with cast and crew
• Rare introductions by Bergman to 11 of his films
• A selection of Bergman theatrical trailers
• Costume sketches and video footage of the models for the film's sets
• Optional English-dubbed soundtrack on the theatrical version
• Stills gallery
• New and improved English subtitle translations
• 36-page booklet featuring new essays by documentarian and film historian Stig Björkman, novelist Rick Moody, and film scholar Paul Arthur

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Pernilla Allwin, Bertil Guve, Gunn Wållgren, Börje Ahlstedt, Allan Edwall, Ewa Fröling, Christina Schollin, Jarl Kulle, Mona Malm, Gunnar Björnstrand

Director Ingmar Bergman had intended FANNY AND ALEXANDER to be his final theatrical film and a summing-up of sorts of his entire cinematic career. (It was followed by 1984?s AFTER THE REHEARSAL, which was also made for Swedish television and subsequently released theatrically abroad.) FANNY AND ALEXANDER is the story of two children belonging to a wealthy, extensive theatrical family in provincial Sweden in the early years of the 20th century--10-year-old Alexander (Bertil Guve) and his younger sister, Fanny (Pernilla Alwin). When their father dies unexpectedly during a performance and their mother decides to remarry, the children are forced to relocate to the austere (and possibly haunted) home of their stern and rather coldhearted stepfather, Bishop Vergerus (Jan Malmsj?A means of escape is eventually provided by Isak Jacobi (Erland Josephson), a longtime friend of the Ekdahl family's who seems to possess magical powers. In this somewhat autobiographical movie--which was filmed in the director?s hometown of Uppsala--the gifted, precocious Alexander is a stand-in for Bergman himself, who had a problematic relationship with his own father, a strict clergyman. At once festive, spooky, and bawdy--and uncharacteristically life-affirming--FANNY AND ALEXANDER is one of Bergman?s most universally appealing and accessible works.

Number 1 Rating: 6/6 Review By: Henrik Baeckström - Jan 17, 2007 The best film I've seen. The best edition I own.