So… I watched Fanny and Alexander. Or rather, I survived Fanny and Alexander.

They tell you this one’s “Bergman’s most accessible”, like it’s some lighthearted Christmas tale with a bit of emotional depth. What they don’t tell you is it starts with baubles and ends with spiritual collapse.

Honestly? It’s like getting invited to a festive buffet and halfway through, someone quietly takes your plate away and starts reading Psalms over your shoulder while your childhood dies in the background.

Act One: Oh this is quite nice?

We open on Christmas. It’s loud, it’s theatrical, it’s vaguely chaotic in a charming old-timey way. People are laughing, drinking, reminiscing… it’s giving A Swedish Muppet Christmas Carol and I was into it.

For about twenty minutes.

Then things took a turn.

Suddenly the fun drains out of the room and we’re locked in the bleakest IKEA catalogue ever printed. And by the time Alexander’s watching ghost children appear in a bishop’s attic, I’m Googling whether Bergman was okay and if I, too, need therapy now.

Act Two: The Film Refuses to End

I don’t mind long films. I’ve watched Yi-Yi, I’ve made it through The Irishman twice I’m no stranger to a slow burn.

But this? This wasn’t a burn. This was emotional waterboarding with candlelight and theatre metaphors. Every time I thought, “Ah, here’s the end,” Bergman whispered “No… no, we’ve still got more emotional suffering to unbox.”

And I still don’t fully understand the puppet stuff. Was it symbolic? Was it haunted? Was it just Sweden being Sweden?

My biggest takeaway?

This entire plot could’ve been resolved in a passive aggressive family WhatsApp thread.

“Hi all, just a quick one, the bishop is emotionally abusing the kids. We’re moving out. Fanny says hi x”

Done. Roll credits.

Final Thoughts:

Do I regret watching it? No. It’s one of those “I watched it so you don’t have to” situations. Did I connect with it? Honestly, not really. Felt like I was intruding on a private therapy session filmed in candlelight.

Could it have been an email? Absolutely.

In Courier font, with no attachments.

If Fanny and Alexander is the festive art-house classic, then I’m the kid in the corner staring into the middle distance wondering when the biscuits arrive.

Now credit where credit is due, this is considered one of Bergman’s best, and I can see why.

It’s layered, it’s theatrical… it’s got a haunted puppet man for some reason.

I just think they cram so much into its three and a half hour runtime… and even more in the five-hour version… if you really hate yourself and have nowhere to be that is!

I’ll give a three out of ten, I can see why people like it and I can see why it’s Bergman’s best but… it’s just not for me, I watched it and I can now say “yeah I’ve seen Fanny and Alexander… didn’t rate it”

Until next time guys… catch ya later 🙂