Ruben Östlund's festival hit Force Majeure has been nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Foreign Film category (and rightfully so). Our heartfelt congratulations to one of Sweden's most talented filmmakers!

In all the praise the film has already received, comparisons to Ingmar Bergman abound:

“It’s Michael Haneke meets ‘Scenes From a Marriage'".
(Variety)

"Der schwedische Regisseur Ruben Östlund folgt der Tradition Ingmar Bergmans und gibt tiefe Einblicke in Gefühlswelten."
(Frankfurter Allgemeine)

"It feels like a missing chapter from fellow Swede Ingmar Bergman's 1973 masterpiece of matrimonial atrophy, Scenes From a Marriage.
(Entertainment Weekly)

Force Majeure  will be up against four other foreign films: Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, Ida, Leviathan, and Tangerine Manderin. The prizes will be announced in Beverly Hills on January 11th next year.

Patrick Modiano is my idol, so I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment. (And sort of pissed: partly for not having betted, partly for not having had a media strategy to follow up on this – since we appointed him this morning, three hours before the Swedish Academy did!)

You will have to wait, then, for my long-ass analysis of how Modiano's complex relationship to the past (and, most importantly, memory as our access to it) in many ways is linked to Bergman's work in, say, Wild Strawberries, Sunday's Children or Saraband.

Which, by the way, makes him the second Frenchman in a short while with a special rapport with Bergman. But where J-M G Le Clézio's cinephilia in general and admiration for Bergman in particular is plain to see, Modiano's relationship with Bergman seems more like an illicit affair, best not mentioned. (Well, that Modiano is a cinephile is fairly obvious.)

I would be surprised, though, if he wouldn't mention Bergman when in Stockholm to accept the award. (If nothing else, he'll be forced to by the Swedish press.)

So maybe I'll be back with more. For the time being, here's the archival object of the day, this time accompanied.

No, I wasn't dreaming. The proof is a scribbled black notebook which I still have. In this haze I need the exact words, so I consult my dictionary: 'Note: short, written text to support memory.' On the pages of the notebook there are names, phone numbers, appointments and even short passages which may have something to do with literature. But to what category do they belong? Journal? Fragments of memory?

(L'herbe des nuits, Paris: Gallimard, 2012.)

Produced by Swedish-Australian Johan Gabrielsson, the programme features interviews with Katinka Faragó, Gunnel Lindblom, art critic Leif Zern and yours truly.

Many consider Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's 1963 film The Silence to be one of his finest. Never before had human emotions been displayed in such a raw fashion in a Swedish film. The many sexually-charged scenes caused a sensation around the world and the film became an economic success. Ingmar Bergman's silent voices explores how Bergman's personality influenced his characters, story, setting, and themes that still confront and challenge audiences today.

Listen here.

Pick of the week in both the New York Times and TimeOut, and great reviews all over.

Read our report here.

The first international Bergman Festival at Dramaten was held in 2009 and the next in 2012. Now the third, in 2016, is announced, as well as the fourth in 2018, marking the centenary of Bergman's birth.

We're jumping with joy, and will no doubt keep you posted!

Kenneth Turan of AP calls it "the kind of portrait of a marriage that might have resulted if Alfred Hitchcock had watched a lot of Ingmar Bergman before getting down to work."

It's a fun description, and although we don't know if it's apt (we'll have to see the movie first, obviously), we do know that it wouldn't be the first Fincher nod to Bergman.

Which reminds me. A few years ago, when Fincher was shooting in Stockholm, I tried to lure him to visit the Ingmar Bergman Archives with the invitation below. Needless to say, I didn't succeed.

Dear Mr Fincher -
Seven: an apology for public libraries.
Panic Room: a film on archival safety.
Zodiac: based on actual files.

In short, your recurrent interest in archive matters, not to mention the references to Persona in Fight Club [I was here, rather cleverly, referring to the theme of the double as well as subliminal erect penises], makes me think you might be interested in visiting the Ingmar Bergman Archives. You would be more than welcome, should you have any spare time during your Stockholm stay.

Your fan,
Jan Holmberg, CEO
Ingmar Bergman Foundation

it is Bénédicte Acolas' celebrated staging of Bergman's script A Spiritual Matter, which soon will appear on European television channel Arte.

French star Sophie Marceau plays the only part, and comments that it is an extraordinary possibility for her to continue performing the text and keep having Bergman in her life, her career. "I am very, very proud. It's a super challenge."

Read the whole interview with Marceau here.

Opening film is Liv Ullmann's Miss Julie and Fanny and Alexander is shown in a side section.

Read more here.

"I remember my emotion when for the first time I viewed Summer Interlude (1951) by Ingmar Bergman: a being speaks about himself, his life, and his sincerity is enough to unleash the mechanism for our own rêverie."

Je me souviens de mon émotion quand j’ai vu pour la première fois Jeux d’été (1951) d’Ingmar Bergman : un être parle de lui, de sa vie, et sa sincérité suffit à déclencher le mécanisme de notre propre rêverie.

Read full article here. (By the way, the same author has previously written about us.)