You may have noticed that I haven't written much about movies for some time now. That's partly because I haven't been watching them at the rate I was doing for a couple of years there, and partly because nothing I've seen over the past few months has made a very big impression on me. (I think the last one that I was excited about was Solaris.)

Well, here's one that did. This is a documentary about Bergman, and will be of interest to anyone who loves his work. As one of many Catholics who are fascinated by the religious aspects of his films, I was interested to see that he repeats some of the observations he made to another interviewer, in a short film included as an extra on the Wild Strawberries DVD, about his changing conception of the nature and meaning of death. In this one he sounds not just tentatively hopeful that he might again see his deceased wife, but expectant.

As fascinating as the interview is, the main effect of this documentary was to make me want to see the films I haven't seen yet, including some of the more obscure ones, as well as to revisit the ones I know. My interest was further piqued by an additional short film included on the DVD, Bergman 101, which is, as the name implies, a brief introduction to his life and work. It includes intriguing glimpses of a number of the lesser known films, including those before his mature work of the '50s. More info here.