Excerpts from the Seduction of Ingmar Bergman - Sparks

I am Ingmar Bergman

You may or may not know my films

You may or may not know anything about me as a person

Still, the strange events following the warm and unexpected reception to my

film Smiles Of A Summer Night

Are something that no one has known about — until now

Good, Evil, God, the Devil, Life, Death — these were my usual concerns.

This film, though, was a comedy

A comedy!

How far from a comedy the events to follow would be

Have you ever felt compelled to do something against your will?

I have.

I have

You see, I have a total disdain for escapist art, and yet why, on that cold May

afternoon in Stockholm in 1956, did I feel the need to enter that movie theatre

to see escapist art of the worst sort, a typical American action film

Well, the title is not what is important.

What is important is that I felt

compelled to stay against my will, for 90 long minutes

Why?

Was it the urge to partake of something mindless?

Was it the urge to indulge in something vacuous?

Was it the urge to do something unlike Ingmar Bergman

And, as lights finally came on I got up and walked out as quickly as I could

and onto the street — but not the street I expected

Mr. Bergman, how are you?

Something we can get for you?

Some Ramlösa, like some ice?

My name’s Gerald Geoffrey Weiss

We’ve got to turn him ‘round

Not let him let us down

We’ve got to turn him ‘round

Not let him turn us down

We’ve got to turn him ‘round

Not let him turn us down

How could he be so small to turn us down at all

How could he be so small to turn us down at all

He’s great, but not that great

He thinks he has a choice in all this

He thinks he has a choice in all this

He thinks he has a choice in all this

We’ve offered him the moon

Rejected us like goons

And all the while unfazed, his eyes were dull and glazed

But all that’s in the past

He really has some goal to turn us down at all

He really has some goal to turn us down at all

Is anyone that great?

Let’s see how well he does without us

He’ll see that he is lost without us

He’ll never be that great without us

Bergman, Bergman, Bergman, Bergman, Bergman, Bergman, Bergman, Bergman …

He’s home, he’s home, and we’re so glad

He’s home, he’s home, and we’re so glad

No fireworks, no marching band

No fireworks, no marching band

But old and young, rejoice and cheer

But old and young, rejoice and cheer

Without him here, we’re barely here

Without him here, we’re barely here

Ah, but Bergman well, he examines all

And most of all himself

Good night, that’s all

Good night, that’s all