Ingmar BergmanThe cinema world lost 2 giants this week. On the same day this week, both Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni died. Both directors were considered masters of their craft.

Bergman, known for his stark philosophical dramas, produced 50 films whose main themes relected his own obsessions: death and the relationships between men and women. He influenced many other filmmakers, including Woody Allen, who once called Mr. Bergman “probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera.”

Antonioni’s films have inspired adulation, confusion, derision, and imitators. “What is impressive about Antonioni’s films is not that they are good,” the film scholar Seymour Chatman wrote. “But that they have been made at all.” His themes include “alienation, anomie, angst and decadence.”

The Hopkins libraries own (or have ordered) all of Bergman’s films that are currently available, including The Seventh Seal (DVD 575), The Virgin Spring (Video A3159; DVD on order), Smiles of a Summer Night (Video A442; DVD on order), and Fanny and Alexander (Video A1078; DVD on order). You can also check our his intriguing autobiography: Images : my life in film (P 3998 .A3 B4613213 1994).

Antonioni is perhaps best known for the 1966 film, Blow-up (DVD 1747). His other classics include L’Avventura (DVD 576), The Passenger (DVD 2348), and Red Desert (Video A592).

Check out the New York Times Movie section for much more about both directors.


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