Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words

Following a winter of binge watching Ingrid Bergman movies (which are mostly good) this closed off my BergmanFest nicely.

***BIO-DOC FINALLY DOES JUSTICE TO SEPARATE THE ACTRESS AND THE WOMAN***

Fascinating documentary of one of the all-time greats.

Ingrid Bergman has always made it so clear that she was able to live other lives, not even her children dared to take on the role of mother. Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words, through her own title, wishes to give the main idea of ??the documentary, besides a posthumous tribute made by the person who is alive, her desire is that the central figure (Bergman) Own and pictures too. Such images were, therefore, a confessable passion of the actress, who manifested herself as a child when her father recorded her daughter on a daily basis. After her father's death, Ingrid continued the records on her own, altering only the order of her captures, it was she, who now assumed the records of various moments and of the various people she met in her life. Directed by the Swedish Stig Björkman, the documentary partially fulfills its promise, and the reason is soon unattainable, since without the presence of Bergman to talk about his life and also by the focus that the actress directed his letters and his diary, almost was little About his career, about his work and what causes a certain astonishment, since this was notoriously his greatest pleasure and where he felt happier. His records were largely concerned with the death of his mother and his brothers at an early age, and of the only figure he had left, but also of his father. Then his records are focused on the love life followed by the life of the four children, these being, figures that add a great part and time in the writing of the actress. Thus Bergman's words presented through a rich collection of images and home movies, is the strongest and most interesting element of the documentary, which extracts through interviews, archives and diaries of the Swedish star, the voice (own) Of the figure-character. The lack of any significant research on performance styles is appreciably felt, particularly due to the very different methods of its principal directors: George Cukor, Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Rossellini, Jean Renoir, Stanley Donen, Ingmar Bergman. There is some slight personality analysis - she was led, she was shy, "love came through the lens of the camera," she was brave - and the four children painted an attractive portrait of her largely absent mother. However, the psychological depth, Bjorkman, maker of documentaries like "Ingmar Bergman" and "Lars von Trier", barely goes beyond the level of a portrait of the Channel Biography. As such, Bergman is actually very difficult to read, and we are drawn to it even more because of it. With so much reference material at his disposal, Björkman can not overcome this mystery entirely, but what he does quite elegantly is to explore the mixed feelings of these four surviving children, all of which make it clear how fun it was and also give Light for the mother's felt absence at the desire of the actress in love with the craft. Perhaps there is nothing radically new to those with some knowledge of Ingrid Bergman's story of many other biographical TV portraits, but this is still a worthy door-to-call for all the curious about one of the greatest icons of cinema.

Movie night with Iris. Film fans will be disappointed in that Hitchcock and Casablanca get little insight. However through intimate letters and home movies we get an affecting portrait. A true star who loved often, lived life on her own terms; and was pilloried for it. Deeply affected by the loss of her own parents, even her children were sometimes discarded in that pursuit. Special mention to the atmospheric score, this is a documentary of the highest class.

Every ten years, movie starlett Ingrid Bergman changed her life: countries, husbands, studios, directors and sometimes children. She loved life, and lived it to the fullest, often to the chagrin of complacent society, but always to the utter delight of the paparazzi. In an exhaustive two-hours, Stig Bjorkman gathers together endless streams of photographs, film clips, home movies and diary passages, from movie's biggest packrat. We are whisked from Sweden, to America, to Italy, to some island that I can't remember anymore. It's all quite dizzying. Her children speak fondly of her joie de vivre, and the all too brief time she actually spent raising them. Bergman was truly an original, an actor who sandwiched a couple of Oscar nods with an eight year "penance" exile, for her indiscretions. It's all rather engrossing, for about an hour. But rather repetitive after that. In the end, this document is but a very large canvas brimming with juicy stories, desperately in need of a ruthless editor. - hipCRANK

Excellent documentary on a great movie star/There was complete cooperation with her children (who adored her)/Used were letters, juornals, and home movies back to her childhood/For movie buffs this is a must

Few actresses have had as tumultuous a life and career as the unprecedented Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982). She was a bona fide movie star in her native Sweden until she left for the promise of Hollywood in her mid-twenties, was a film icon by the end of the 1940s until she was essentially blacklisted following the discovery of her affair with Roberto Rossellini, spent most of the 1950s making arthouse pictures and living in exile, made a successful comeback in the later part of the decade with her Oscar-winning turn in "Anastasia," graced the theater with her presence for most of the 1960s, explosively returned to cinema in the 1970s, and died a legend in 1982 of breast cancer at the age of sixty-seven. She was also married three times, had four children, could speak and convincingly act in five different languages, and rarely lived in the same country for more than a decade. She lost almost all her closest family members before she turned fourteen to various illnesses. She was painfully shy but felt alive when in front of the camera. She obsessively took pictures and Super 8s to ensure her familial memories never be forgotten. She was never without a diary, and she never forgot to write letters to the friends she left behind in Sweden. She remained humble throughout her career. And she never lost her remarkable moxie for her children, for her profession, and for life itself. Ingrid Bergman (best known for her performances in 1942's "Casablanca," 1944's "Gaslight," and 1946's "Notorious") was a woman ahead of her time, a modern being never to be tied down and never one to deny herself of the thrill of a new opportunity, of a life-changing risk. As we watch 2015's "In Her Own Words," released to coincide with the one-hundredth birthday of the actress, we see Bergman, an indelible symbol of the Hollywood Golden Age, in an entirely different light. Though we might have been aware of the roller coasters of her personal life and though we might have recognized her career as being one of the most idiosyncratic in film history, she becomes the emblem of abiding courageousness and flawed femininity that we had previously only vaguely seen her as before. Here is a woman born in a time where cultural normalities regarding marriage and work were set in stone, unbudging to a point in which challenging them could spell out social and professional doom, and yet didn't care about how people perceived her. Here is a woman who followed her heart more than she followed her head, and lived an unconventionally exciting life as a result of her inability to conform. In its intimate capturing of her life, "Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words," immaculately directed by Stig Björkman, is a quintessential biographical documentary. Like last year's stirring "Amy," which certainly ranks among the finest of its kind, it is apprehensive toward the use of talking heads doing their best recollections, preferring to utilize incredibly personal archival footage and diaristic voiceover (performed beautifully by this generation's Bergman, Alicia Vikander) for its methods of storytelling. Wisely, memories are strictly shared by Bergman's children (who, much as they adore their mother, do not hide their misgivings toward her recurring decision to prioritize work over family) and the occasional coworker (from Liv Ullmann to Sigourney Weaver). Because this is a documentary disinterested by the notion of painting a portrait of someone else's idea of who Ingrid Bergman was. More riveting is the idea of trying to objectively characterize this woman for what she was, warts and all. Fortunately, she's an exceptional creation, for all her fears, desires, neuroses, and ambitions. She may have left us nearly thirty-five years ago, but her legacy remains firmly intact. "Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words" is a cause for celebration.

Gentle and sympathetic look on Ingrid bergman's life. Great soundtrack and good access to those close to her.

Filmmakers lovingly chronicled the life of a woman with drive, determination and decisiveness. Ms. Bergman did not compromise her craft, her desires or her dreams for anyone or anything. This caused much turmoil for those closest to her. Yet, those that knew her best still loved and respected her as she was: an unapologetic woman, wife, mother and actor.