My Favorite Ingmar Bergman Films (2024 Edition)

by John Charet

Some of these I watched online. I saw just about all of Bergman’s films, but not every single one of them.

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

  1. Persona (1966)
  2. Wild Strawberries (1957)
  3. Cries and Whispers (1972)
  4. Saraband (2003)
    (Swedish/Italian/German/Finnish/Danish/Austrian Television)
  5. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
    (Miniseries)
    (Swedish/French/West German Television)
  6. The Silence (1963)
  7. Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
  8. Winter Light (1963)
  9. Sawdust and Tinsel (1953)
  10. Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
  11. Summer with Monika (1953)
  12. Hour of the Wolf (1968)
  13. Summer Interlude (1951)
  14. Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
    (Miniseries)
    (Swedish Television)
  15. The Seventh Seal (1957)
  16. Shame (1968)
  17. The Magician (1958)
  18. The Virgin Spring (1960)
  19. After the Rehearsal (1984)
    (Swedish Television)
  20. Autumn Sonata (1978)
  21. Face to Face (1976)
  22. The Magic Flute (1975)
  23. From the Life of the Marionettes (1980)
    (Swedish/West German Television)
  24. The Rite (1969)
    (Swedish Television)
  25. The Passion of Anna (1969)
  26. Brink of Life (1958)
  27. Dreams (1955)
  28. A Lesson in Love (1954)
  29. Secrets of Women (1952)
  30. The Devil’s Eye (1960)
  31. A Dream Play (1963)
    (Swedish Television)
  32. To Joy (1950)
  33. In the Presence of a Clown (1997)
    (Swedish/Danish/Norwegian/Italian/German Television)
  34. Faro Document 1979 (1979)
    (Documentary)
    (Television)
  35. Faro Document (1970)
    (Documentary)
    (Television)
  36. The Making of Fanny and Alexander (1984)
    (Documentary)
  37. The Making of Autumn Sonata (1978)
    (Documentary)
  38. Madame de Sade (1992)
    (Swedish Television)
  39. Prison (1949)
  40. Port of Call (1948)
  41. It Rains on Our Love (1946)
  42. The Serpent’s Egg (1977)
  43. Karin’s Face (1986)
    (Documentary)
    (Short)
  44. Thirst (1949)
  45. The Image Makers (2000)
    (Swedish/Danish/Finnish Television)
  46. The Misanthrope (1974)
    (Danish Television)
  47. Music in Darkness (1948)
  48. A Ship Bound for India (1947)
  49. Crisis (1946)
  50. The Blessed Ones (1986)
    (Swedish Television)
  51. The Touch (1971)
  52. Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (1957)
    (Swedish Television)
  53. Ovader (1960)
    (Swedish Television)
  54. The Last Gasp (1995)
    (Swedish Television)
  55. Backanterna (1993)
    (Swedish Television)
  56. Hustruskolan (1983)
    (Swedish Television)
  57. Rabies (1958)
    (Swedish Television)
  58. Stimulantia (1967)
    Segment: Daniel
  59. All These Women (1964)
  60. The Venetian (1958)
    (Swedish Television)
  61. Harald & Harald (1996)
    (Short)
    (Television)
  62. On Set Home Movies (2008)
    (Documentary)
    (Short)
  63. Ingmar Bergman: Making Commercials (1951)
    (Commercials)
    (Short)
    (Swedish Television)
  64. This Can’t Happen Here (1950)

14 thoughts on “My Favorite Ingmar Bergman Films (2024 Edition)”

  2. Of the three you mentioned – Persona is quite possibly the most influential of them whereas The Virgin Spring would be remade a decade later as The Last House on the Left by legendary horror director Wes Craven 🙂

    Did you ever see The Seventh Seal? If not, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey parodies it – watch the scenes where Bill and Ted are playing board games with death 🙂

  3. No, I’ve never seen The Seventh Seal. It’s one of those that I’ve just never gotten around to. Yes, I’ve heard that about Last House on the Left…I much prefer The Virgin Spring.

    I know Last House is influential, but I don’t care for it–and it’s not because it’s an exploitation film–I like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Escape from New York, etc…had no idea about Bill & Ted. Interesting.

  4. I have seen around 9-10 of these films, off the top of my head. Bergman was a huge influence on modern cinema, but I found his films to be rather ‘heavy’ so have only watched those once.
    Best wishes, Pete.

  5. Cries and Whispers
    Persona
    Wild Strawberries
    A Passion
    The Seventh Seal
    Face to Face
    Brink of Life
    Prison
    Secrets of Women
    Through a Glass Darkly
    Autumn sonata
    Scenes from a marriage
    Summer with Monika
    The Silence
    Sawdust and tinsel
    Dreams
    Shame
    Saraband
    The Virgin Spring
    Hour of the wolf
    Smiles of a Summer Night
    Fanny and Alexander
    Winer Light
    Summer Interlude (1951)
    A Lesson in Love
    Secrets of Women
    To Joy
    Port of Call
    The Magic Flute
    The Touch
    The Serpent’s Egg

  7. So sorry for the late reply Pete 🙂 I understand your take on Bergman, but he did make some that can best be described as delightful – for example, did you ever see Smiles of a Summer Night? 🙂

  8. Interesting ranking you have Bill on Bergman’s films 🙂 It seems like we agree on the first three choices, but in different order. You place Cries and Whispers ahead of Persona, which I do not and you put Wild Strawberries at third place, which I put in between 🙂 Please tell me something, do you think it would be fitting to have Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries placed on a double bill with Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru? 🙂

  10. Wild Strawberries /Ikiru good programming
    how about these?
    Persona/Performance
    Hour of the Wolf / Night of the Living Dead
    A Passion / Uncle Vanya
    Cries and Whispers / Accident
    The Magic Flute/ Parsifal
    Sawdust and Tinsel/ The Circus
    Face to Face / A Woman Under the Influence
    Winter Light / Diary of a country Priest
    Shame/ Ivan’s Childhood
    The Silence/ Red Desert
    Seventh Seal/ Masque of the Red Death
    Through a glass Darkly / Lilith

  12. Apologies for only catching up to your recent posts now – I love all these lists you’ve been writing! For whatever reason, my attention has been pushed away from reading other blogs for about a year now – I’ll blame a new job and spending too much time on other sites, but I’m trying to catch up now.
    I haven’t done a Top Ten Bergman list yet… I wouldn’t say he’s hit and miss for me, but I definitely need to be in a certain mood for his films. Nevertheless, Seventh Seal, The Magician, and The Virgin Spring would likely be near the top of mine – I especially find The Magician to be very underrated.

  13. That is perfectly fine carlosnightman 🙂 We all get busy 🙂 I was finally able to leave a reply on your most recent post btw 🙂 Ingmar Bergman is undoubtedly an acquired taste, but for me, I am a huge fan 🙂 Speaking of which, you are probably aware that The Virgin Spring would be remade by horror director Wes Craven in 1972 with The Last House on the Left 🙂

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