Ich bin Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman – "In Her Own Words" (2015) Ingrid Bergman was a rare and brave woman, and she was of course a big and genuine actress of the very few who lived and died for art no matter the consequences for herself, her children and her husbands.

This documentary is not bad, but it's not successful either. The reason why is that the documentary is simply too private, it does not become interesting to a larger audience. It's mainly private film footage (8 and 16 mm) and diary quotations over and over again. And we see and listen to Ingrid's children telling the same – more or less – again and again, and not one single bad or negative thing is said about their mother. I was not convinced. The documentary runs for 114 minutes and sadly it feels like 228 minutes.

What have Stig Bjökman (the writer and director), Dominika Daubenbüchel and Stina Gardell been thinking about? This documentary would have been complete and beautifully put together IF it have had at least 3 blocks of montages with clips from Bergman's greatest parts. We got nearly 8 seconds from "Casablanca" and that was it!!! We should have SEEN and WATCHED Ingrid in Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious" and "Spellbound" – not someone telling us about her acting in these movies! And we should have seen clips with Ingrid and Cary Copper in "For Whom the Bell Tolls" or seen Ingrid afraid to be insane in "Gaslight" or Ingrid together with Goldie Hawn in "Cactus Flower" – and I could go on and on! But we didn't. There's a saying that goes: "don't tell, show!" someone is this production should have whispered this saying to Stig Björkman.

It's not until the last 10 minutes that this documentary really speeds up and get's very interesting when we meet Sigourney Weaver, Isabella Rossellini and Liv Ullmann. Weaver recalls what it was like being on stage with Ingrid in her first professional job was as an understudy in Sir John Gielguds production of "The Constant Wife". Liv Ullmann is telling us about how Ingrid and Ingmar Bergman left the set when they were making "Autumn Sonata", because they could not agree on how a dialog should be. All on the set could still hear them quarrel very loudly. Bergman and Bergman came back, Ingmar got his will and they all continued. Now that would have been interesting to see and hear much more of, especially because the movie was about a mother abandon her children for the art.

What a shame, because Ingrid and we have deserved much much more.

If you have any recollection of screen legend Ingrid Bergman, Stig Björkman's 2015 documentary is a must-see simply because it follows her emotionally complex life purely through archival footage and stills (including her own home movies) and her four children none of whom are resentful of her partial abandonment of them. Gratefully there are no film scholars or celebrities (other than true colleagues Sigourney Weaver and Liv Ullmann) remarking on her life and career because the point of the film was to understand her feelings directly through her voice even though it's fellow Swedish actress Alicia Vikander who is reciting Bergman's diary entries. Released on her centenary, the most memorable section was her first Hollywood screen test where her breathtaking natural beauty took hold. The rest of the film made complete sense from there.

Greetings again from the darkness. A seven time Oscar nominee and three time winner. One of the best known and most beloved actresses of all-time. Fifty year acting career. Died at age 67, mere weeks after her final performance. These are all bullet points to highlight Ingrid Bergman, the cinematic icon. However, documentarian (and fellow Swede) Stig Bjorkman pays little attention to the icon, and instead focuses on the woman.

What sets this apart from many biographical portraits is Bjorkman's access to Bergman's diaries, journals, personal letters, photos, home videos, and most importantly, interviews with her four children: Pia Lindstrom, Roberto Rossellini, and twins Isabella and Ingrid Rossellini. It's a treasure trove of memories, documentation and insight into a woman who lived life on her own terms … often in direct opposition to what societal norms dictate. The film neither defends nor celebrates her free spirit; it simply reports it and allows us to sit in judgment, should we be so inclined.

One of the best clips is young Ingrid's screen test where her natural beauty radiates on screen, and her expressive eyes make it obvious why David O Selznick recognized her star quality. But there are numerous other clips and photographs which show her mostly involved with her family … one of her husbands and some combination of her kids. Not fitting into the typical "motherly" box, Ingrid spent an enormous amount of time away from her kids as they were growing up. She clearly loved them very much, as evidenced by the words in her diaries and letters, and the visuals from their time together. And the interviews with her children today make it obvious they viewed her as a fun friend, rather than the nurturing mom.

Another aspect that is crystal clear is the ambition and drive possessed by Ingrid. She even states "no one can have everything", and her actions and words make it obvious that acting was what brought her to life – whether on screen or on stage. It never took long on the home front for her to feel the pull of her true adventurous nature, and soon enough she was back on a movie set … leaving the kids behind.

Specifics of her movie career are mostly glossed over. Casablanca has a quick segment, as does her time with Alfred Hitchcock. Instead, we get a broad perspective of the scandal that rocked the movie world … a pregnant Ingrid left her first husband (Petter Lindstrom) for her director-lover Roberto Rossellini. For the times, this was extreme impropriety and there were even boycotts of her films. No place was harder on her than the United States. Absolutely unapologetic and without remorse, Ingrid took her career to Europe. Ingrid and Roberto had three kids together, and since history has a way of repeating itself, it was only a matter of time before Roberto was with his pregnant girlfriend in India, and Ingrid moved on to producer Lars Schmidt (and his private island).

The most impact from the timeline comes courtesy of the four adult children as they recall the extended times away from their mother, followed by memorable and fun stints together. Of course, they have each had many years to come to terms with a mother who frequently chose pursuing her career dreams to spending time with them. Imagine having a mother who said "I belong more to the make-believe world of theatre and film". It can make you tough and independent, or it can have the opposite effect. We hear each of them discuss.

This is the wrong place to look for a career retrospective of Ingrid Bergman the actress, but it's an intimate and fascinating look at a woman who understood what was important to her, and refused to be ruled by societal expectations. Young Swedish actress Alicia Vikander provides voice-over for much of Ingrid's written word, but it's Ms. Bergman's actions and the insight from Pia, Roberto, Isabella and Ingrid that complete the full portrait of a most unusual woman. Ms. Bergman died in 1982 (age 67), just weeks after her final role in the TV movie "A Woman Called Golda"... a fitting portrait of another woman who lived life by her own rules.

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.

This documentary representing the life story of a great actress Ingrid Bergman, the tribute to her can be a life changing for you. Besides the glory and fame, her choices that may be for some to hardcore. Can you choose family over career? Can you have them both? Well the director Stig Björkman will take you on bits of her history and reveal some toughs thru the descriptions of Ingrid's four children. I would say this is an inspirational piece and the main point would be a career decision, presented by a true star of the cinema.