Summer with Monika

“This is the complete Bergman. Wow. This is the filmmaker that, if you are interested in the interior landscape of our psyche and the fullest exploration of where that can take you in the cinema form, this is the crown jewel. This is the best. So here I am, I’m just gonna walk out with… I’m just gonna finish with these two things. Two box sets by… I’m kind of overwhelmed. Thank you.”

“Bergman. Bergman. Come on, come on. It’s all about humanity’s condition. It’s all about being in a psychiatric ward.”

“This immense collection. Quite fantastic and really heavy. And you could use it in your workout.”

“Okay, do we have… Ingmar Bergman? This is too much. This is very great. This is… The Seventh Seal I liked. I remember that. The Magician… Virgin Spring. You can’t go wrong with this. All of them. Persona was a big hit. Look at the body of work that he did. I look forward to sitting at home watching that on a rainy night or whatever. Or a hot night. Whatever night. Be special.”

“But I want to make sure I get the Bergman set because also he is a huge inspiration to me and all the women in his films.”

“I feel incredibly special and I did not just pull this off of the shelf at random. This is a comprehensive Bergman collection. When I was maybe 18, somebody gifted me the Fanny and Alexander Box Set. It was something challenging that touched a part of me that was untouched or too sensitive to touch. He was incapable of telling lies to keep himself comfortable or you comfortable. It sent me down this journey and now he is one of if not my favorite directors.”

“The Bergman here. I come across with Bergman at a very young age at 16 years old. Like I saw his *Silence* in cinematic in his stumble. It was just a surprise because like the films I saw before this *Silence*, the cinema just like an entertainment for me. But with this movie I understood that the cinema is something else. You can put all your problems, all your sicknesses, everything in a movie. And after that, I watched all Bergman movies one by one. I searched for them. But in those days,...”

“Which would you rather have this is not no I think the Bergman okay we can decide later...”

“Voilà j'ai l'intégral de Bergman dans les miens mais comme je lui dois intégralement finalement ma carrière puisque sans lui je serais jamais devenu cinéaste...”

“When I saw this Bergman stuff here, which I'm going to take. Oh, this may break my back, but I'm going to put it in here. When I made Brothers Grimm, there was Bergman, one of my great heroes. Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, they all were wondrous films. Everybody assumes Ingmar Bergman is a very serious, solemn man and Peter Stormare said, 'No, Ingmar, we laughed the whole time.' And that I thought, oh, maybe I can do this kind of work. You can have fun and direct.”

“To get back a little bit on to the lighter side and, oddly, Ingmar Bergman, the majority of Bergman’s movies are really actually of lighter character. There is one that I specifically like, and it’s in this heavy and hefty collection: The Devil’s Eye... The way this woman or this girl, rather, played by Bibi Andersson, resists Don Juan’s approaches and resists Don Juan’s seduction is extraordinary... I recommend it for the joyful private resistance of the leading lady.”