Plot
A captivating look behind the scenes of the remarkable life of a young Swedish girl who became one of the most celebrated actresses of American and World cinema.
Release Year: 2015
Rating: 7.3/10 (349 voted)
Critic's Score: /100
Director: Stig Björkman
Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Roberto Rossellini, Jeanine Basinger
Storyline
In spring 2011, director Stig Björkman meets Ingrid Bergman's daughter Isabella Rossellini and she suggests him to "make a film about Mama". Through Isabella, Stig is able to tell Ingrid's story through her own words and images. Seven time Academy Award-nominee and three time Academy Award-winner Ingrid Bergman was one of the most talented actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age with great performances in films such as CASABLANCA (1942), GASLIGHT (1944) and and AUTUMN SONATA (1978). Through never-before-seen private footage, notes, letters, diaries and interviews with her children, this documentary presents a personal portrait and captivating look behind the scenes of the remarkable life of a young Swedish girl who became one of the most celebrated actresses of American and World cinema.
Writers: Stig Björkman, Dominika Daubenbüchel
Cast: Jeanine Basinger -
Herself
Ingrid Bergman -
Herself
(archive footage)
Pia Lindström -
Herself
Fiorella Mariani -
Herself
Isabella Rossellini -
Herself
Isotta Rossellini -
Herself
(as Ingrid Rossellini)
Roberto Rossellini -
Himself
Liv Ullmann -
Herself
Alicia Vikander -
Ingrid Bergman
(voice)
Sigourney Weaver -
Herself
Swedish author, screenwriter, film editor and director Stig Björkman's
documentary feature which he wrote with screenwriters Stina Gardell and
Dominika Daübenbuchel, is inspired by his chance meeting with a
daughter. It premiered in the Cannes Classics section at the 68th
Cannes International Film Festival in 2015, was shot on locations in
and is a Sweden-Germany co-production which was produced by producer
Stina Gardell. It tells the story about a Swedish daughter, sister,
student, mother, wife and author who was born in Stockholm, Sweden in
the early 1900s, almost a century after the birth of a Swedish 19th
century opera singer known as the Swedish Nightingale, into the reign
of King Gustav V (1858-1950) and the First World War (1914-1918) when a
Swedish MP named Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862-1953) was prime minister,
as the third child of her German mother named Friedel Adler and her
Swedish father named Justus Bergman who was a photographer and painter.
Distinctly and subtly directed by Swedish filmmaker Stig Björkman, this
quietly paced documentary which is narrated by a Swedish actress and
dancer, through diary notes and mostly from the person in question's
point of view, draws a lyrically literary and informatively abridged
portrayal of a person who in the early 1930s was admitted at the Royal
Dramatic Theatre's acting school (1787-1964) in Stockholm, Sweden, met
a physician named Petter Lindström, made her acting debut, went to
Berlin, Germany where she was offered to do a film regarding a French
18th century seamstress named Charlotte Corday (1768-1793), met an
American talent scout in New York, U.S. named Katharine Brown Barrett
(1902-1995), in the 1940s became the first Scandinavian actress to be
acknowledged with the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role,
was chosen by an American author surnamed Hemingway for a lead role in
an adaptation of one of his literary works and who once said: "If you
don't like the performance you can walk out …" While notable for its
versatile and atmospheric milieu depictions and reverent cinematography
by cinematographers Eva Dahlgren and Malin Korkeasalo, this
narrative-driven story about cinema history and one of its brightest
stars where interviews with her children, collaborating actresses, a
film historian and friends paints a majestic portrait of a renowned
Swedish 20th century theatre and film actress, autobiographer,
recipient of the Swedish Illis Quorum medal and fleeting bird who lived
and worked in the United States, France, England and Italy and where a
Swedish singer sings: "… Jäg sjunger filmen om oss …" or "… I sing the
film about us …" contains a great and timely score by composer Michael
Nyman.
This historically and biographically heartrending retelling of real
events which is set in Sweden, USA, France, England and Italy in the
20th century and where a radically transcending human being who as a
three-year-old was introduced to her aunt named Ellen, and who in the
late 1970s, more than three centuries after a French 17th century
philosopher who once lived in the Swedish Empire (1611-1721) published
an essay called "Discourse on the Method" (1637), started shooting a
feature film with a Swedish filmmaker and a Swedish actor surnamed
Josephson in Norway is described by her beloved named Pia, Roberto,
Isabella and Isotta Ingrid, is impelled and reinforced by its
fragmented narrative structure, rhythmic continuity, archival footage,
home video recordings, photographs and comment by Ullmann: "I think she
represents that which the woman's struggle for liberation is about." An
extraordinary documentary feature which gained a Special Mention at the
68th Cannes Film Festival in 2015.
0