Bergman always put up an act together, even in his personal life: Jannike Ahlund

Ingmar Bergman was a master craftsman in every sense of the term and journalist-critic Jannike Ahlund Wednesday said the legendary Swedish filmmaker was always ready to organise an act if need be, even when it came to his personal life.

This year the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is celebrating the legacy Bergman through 'Wild at Heart Master in His Craft: Retrospective section of Ingmar Bergman' as 2018 marks the 100-year anniversary of the iconic filmmaker's birth.

The In-Conversation session was moderated by Sunit Tandon and featured Ahlund and Ulrika Sundberg, Consul General, General Consulate of Sweden in Mumbai.

At the event, Sundberg recalled Bergman's trip to India and the mutual respect he and Satyajit Ray had for each other.

"There is also an Indian connection that comes to mind. First, that he came to India in 1947 for his film 'A Ship Bound for India" and second is his relationship with Indian auteur Satyajit Ray.

"The professional respect and friendship between these two legends is widely known and spoken of. In 1964, Ray presented him with the Selznick Golden Laurel Award for his film 'Winter Light'," she added.

Bergman, famous for his films on themes of existential problems of the human race, wrote two autobiographical works: "Laterna Magica" and "Images: My Life in Film", which were more interesting than his films, said Ahlund.

"It's extremely boring when you put the film opposite to the person's autobiography. There are many quotation marks Is this true? Is this his life? When you study Bergman, when you interpret his films, if you use his own writing, his own description and views, he is the most untrustworthy source of information you can have. He does what his forte is all the time - as an artiste, she said.

Ahlund even goes on to call Bergman's three lies in one of the autobiographies, adding these books should be called novels as they make for a fascinating read.

It's a great read. Fascinating but in the first sentence there are three lies,
Tandon pointed out how when Bergman once morosely said to one of his children that I was never much a father to you, the child's reply was: You were never a father at all!