SUMMER WITH MONIKA

Born in Uppsala, to a Lutheran minister, Bergman grew up surrounded by religious imagery and discussion. Bergman attended Stockholm University and became interested in theater, and later in cinema. His films usually dealt with existential questions about mortality, loneliness, and faith; they were also usually direct and not overtly stylized. Persona, an avant-garde work and one of Bergman's most famous films, is unusual among Bergman's films. Bergman was one of the acknowledged masters of modern cinema. His films are representative of the artistic, and sometimes non-linear storytelling techniques of European cinema in contrast to Hollywood, stressing the visual nature of the medium over more traditional plotting. During his early period, he worked exclusively in black and white. Some of his most loved files come from this period, including Sawdust and Tinsel (1955), Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal (both 1957), the latter two are still recognized as early masterpieces. Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and The Silence are generally considered a trilogy, (although Bergman disputes it) revolving around the existential themes of the meaningless of modern life and “God’s silence.” Bergman’s seeming obsession with the death of God was best received not in his homeland of Sweden, which was already a post-Christian society, but in America, where his films became very popular in art houses and especially on college campuses.