Interviewing Ingmar Bergman

(Extract)
Ingmar Bergman - a famous Swedish film director, writer and theatre
pro ducer was born in 1918. His psychological films are well known all over the
world. Crisis (1945), Smiles of Summer Night (1956), Seventh Seal (1957), Wild
Strawber ries (1958), The Silence (1963), Autumn Sonata (1978) are only a few
films made by him. I.Bergman himself wrote the scripts for most of his films and
won awards for many of them. In the focus of his attention people's fates are
put. The people usu ally have a lot of problems. Bergman focuses attention on
the fate of individuals. on their problems and their search for life's meaning.
Many of his.characters are isolated people who suffer from the harsh realities of
the cruel world in which they live. It is difficult to understand the majority of
Bergman's films since the distinc tion between reality and the world of the
imagination is blurred.

S a m u e 1s: Mr. Bergman, I' d like to start with a rather

general question: If I were asked to cite a single reason for your
pre-emi nence among film directors, I would point to your creation
of a spe cial world. You are, in fact, very much like a writer. Why
didn' t you become one?
B e r g m a n: When I was a child, I suffered from an almost
com plete lack of words. My education was very rigid; my
father was a priest. As a result, I lived in a private world of my
own dreams. I played with my puppet theatre.
S.: And -
B.: Excuse me. I had very few contacts with reality or
channels to it. I was afraid of my father, my mother, my elder
brother -eve rything. Playing with this puppet theatre and a
projection device
 I had was my only form of self-expression. I had great difficulty
with fiction and reality; as a small child I mixed them up so
much that my family always said I was a liar.
S.: I want to interrupt you for just a moment. This description of
your childhood resembles one classic description of the genesis of
a writer. Was it only the acc;ident of the puppet theatre that sent
you the way of theatre rather than of books?
B.: No. When I began writing I liked it very much. But I never
felt that writing was my cup of tea. And I always lacked words; it
has always been very difficult for me to fjnd the word I want. I have
always felt suspicious both of what I say and what others say to me.
I always feel something has been lef t out. When I read a book,
I read very slowly. It takes me a lot of time to read a play.
S.: Do you direct it in your head ?
B.: In a way. I have to translate the words into speeches, flesh
and blood. I have an enormous need for contact with an audience,
with other people. For me, words are not satisfying.
S.: With a book, the reader is elsewhere.
B.: When you read, words have to pass through your conscious
mind to reach your emotions and your soul. In film and theatre,
things go directly to the emotions. What I need is to come in con
tact with others.
S.: I see that, but it raises a problem I'm sure you've often dis
cussed. Your films have emotional impact, but since they are also
the most intellectually difficult of contemporary films, isn't there
sometimes a contradiction between the two effects? How do you
react when I say that while I watched "The Rite", my feelings were
interfered with by my baffled effort at comprehension?
B.: Your approach is wrong. I never asked you to understand,
I ask only that you feel.
S.: And the film asks me to understand. The film continuously
makes us wonder what the spectacle means.
B.: But that's you.
S.: It's not the film?
B.: No. "The Rite" merely expresses my resentment against the
critics, audience, and government, with which I was in constant
battle while I ran the theatre. A year after my resignation from the
post, I sat down and wrote the script in five days. The picture is
just a game.
S.: To puzzle the audience?
4 41
0
B.: Exactly. I liked writing it very much and even more making
it. We had a lot of fun while we were shooting. My purpose was
just to amuse myself and the audience. Do you understand what
I mean?
S.: I understand, but certain members of the audience can't re
sist pointing out that Bergman is sending messages, he thinks, but
what are they and why?
B.: You must realize - this is very important! - I never ask
people to understand what I have made. Stravinsky once said, "I
have never understood a piece of music in my life. I always only
feel."
S.: But Stravinsky was a composer. By its nature, music is
non discursive; we don't have to understand it. Films, plays,
poems, novels all make propositions or observations, embody
ideas or be liefs, and we go to these forms -
B.: But you must understand that your view is distorted. You
be long to a small minority that tries to understand. I never try to
un derstand. Music, films, plays always work directly on the
emotions.
S.: I must disagree. I'm afraid I didn't make myself clear -
B.: I must tell you before we go on to more complicated things:
I make my pictures for use! They are made to put me in contact
with other human beings. My impulse has nothing to do with intel
lect or symbolism: it has only to do with dreams and longing, with
hope and desire, with passion.
S.: Does it bother you when critics interpret you through these
items?
B.: Not at all. And let me tell you, I learn more from critics who
honestly criticize my pictures than from those who are devout. And
they influence me. They help me change things. You know that ac
tors often change a film, for better or worse.
S.: May I ask you how "The Touch" differs from the one you in
tended ?
B.: I intended to paint a portrait of an ordinary woman, for
whom everything around was a reflection. Bibi Anderson is a close
friend of mine -a lovely and extremely talented actress. She is to
tally oriented towards reality, always needing motives for what she
does. I admire her and love her. But she changed the film. What
Bibi Anderson did made the film more comprehensible for ordi
nary people and more immediately powerful. I agreed with all her
changes.
 S.: You use music less and less in your films. Why? the camer as, the sound
B.: Because I think equipment -everything.
that film itself is music, t Sometimes a film
and I can' t put music in o succeed ed, but I never
music. o got what I wanted to
S.: If you could have get. But in "Summer
shot all your films in a Interlude", I suddenly felt
colour, would you b that I knew my
have? s profession.
B.: No. Because it is t S.: Do you have any
more fascinating to r idea why?
shoot in black and white a B.: I don't know, but
and force people to c for heaven's sake a day
imagine the colours. t must always come along
S.: Do you work in . when finally one
colour now -to any succeeds in understanding
degree -because you B his profession! I'm so
feel that the audience . impressed by young
demands it? : directors now who know
B.: No. I like it. At the how to make a film from
beginning, it was Y the first moment.
painful, but now I like e S.: But they have
it. s nothing to say. (
S.: Why do you use so . Bergman laughs.)
much dialogue in your S.: Some people have
films? criticized your films for
B.: Because human being too theatri cal -
communication occurs particularly - the
through words. I tried early ones. How do you
once to eliminate answer this charge?
language, in "The B.: I am a director -
Silence", and I feel that s.: But aren't the two
picture is excessive. forms different?
S B.: Completely. In my
. earlier pictures, it was
: very diffi:Cult for me to
go from directing in the
I theatre to directing films.
t I had al ways felt
' technically crippled Exercises
s -insecure with the crew, (необходимые
4 41
0
 задания)
10. Answer the
following questions and
do the given tasks:

1. What do you
know about
I.Bergman? Have you
seen any of his films?
Would you agree with
Ch.Samuels that
I.Bergman has

4 41
0
created a special world in them ? Are they different from the films the general public is used to?
2. What, in Bergman's opinion, pre vented him from becoming a writer? Do you think film
directors' and writers' activities have something in common? If your answer is "yes" -what is
it? If "no" - explain why.
3. How does the di rector explain the fact that "words for him are not satisfying" ? Can you accept
such an explanation? Give your reasons.
4. Would you agree with I.Bergman that films and books have quite different im pacts upon the
audience? Justify your point of view.
5. Do you think every film should have a certain message, convey various ideas to the audience
or just rouse our feelings? Would you agree with the director that the audience should "only feel"
without un derstanding what is happening on the screen ?
6. Comment upon Stravinsky's words: "I never understood a piece of music in my life, I always
only feel." Do you think the impact of films and music on the audience is comparable?
7. Would you agree with I.Bergman that Ch.Samuels's comprehension of films is distorted and
that music, films, plays always work directly on the emotions?
8. I.Bergman's films are considered the most intellectually difficult contemporary films. Can
you explain why?
9. During the interview Bergman says that what he needs is to come in contact with others. Do
you think the director has achieved this contact in his films?
10. What do you think of the director's aim to create films "just to amuse himself " and the
audience? Do you think such films should be made? Why?
11. What is I.Bergman's reaction to criticism? Can critics influence cinema production?
directors?
12. I. Bergman thinks that actors can change a film for better or worse. Can you explain in
what way?
13. Why does the director use less and less music in his films? Does his explanation sound
convincing? What is the place of music in cinema production as you see it ?
14. Would you agree with the director's opinion that shooting in black and white is preferable.
Do you think that colour films produce a more powerful effect upon the audience? Justify
your point of view.
15. What, in your opinion, is the role of dialogue in a film? Should camera-work or dialogues
predominate in films? Does it depend upon the genre?
16. Why do you think I.Bergman felt technically insecure when he began his job as a film
director?
17. Do you think that experience and skill are of great importance in the field of act ing?
directing? other professions? Do you think it natural for a person to have doubts as to his
own proficiency, skill or do you think people usually know what to do and how to do it
from the
first moment?
18. Do you really think that a day comes to each per son when he suddenly feels that he
knows his profession ? Explain what usually helps people to achieve this.

11. Retell Text Two al in indirect speech; b) as if you were I.Bergman or Ch.Samuels.

12. Give a summary of Text Two.

13. Пересказ текста.

Оригинальность не менее 70%