Fanny och Alexander (Fanny and Alexander)

The well-to-do, loving and ebullient Ekdahl family gathers to celebrate Christmas. After the actor-father of 10-year-old Alexander and 8-year-old Fanny dies, their mother marries a sadistic minister whose cruelty leads Grandmother Ekdahl's Jewish lover to rescue them. Happiness and balance is restored as new babies are born and the family gathers once more to celebrate. Bergman's most optimistic film creates pure enchantment as comedy, tragedy, romance, realism and fantasy blend into a perfect evocation of childhood, place and period (turn-of-the-century Sweden), caught in glowing images. The film offers a superlative culmination of Bergman’s 37 years as one of the cinema's greatest artists. (Foreign Film Guide)