A traveling magician and his troupe arrive in a Swedish town in the 1840s, where their act is scrutinized by local authorities and a skeptical medical official. Their stay leads to a series of confrontations that test the boundaries between performance, belief, and deception.
El mago, Het gelaat, Le visage, Лицето, O Rosto, Ansigtet, El rostro, The Face, O anthropos me ta 2 prosopa, Arc, Il volto, La cara, Het gezicht, Twarz, Lice, Лицо, Das Gesicht, 魔术师, Le Visage, 面孔, Yüz, Kasvot, 마술사, 魔術師, Tvář, Magicianul
Sweden15 
France 
USANR 
FinlandK-16 
Germany12 
Netherlands12 Finland France Germany Netherlands Sweden USA 
“The Magician” is Ingmar Bergman’s sly rage against the persona levied upon him in the stage of world cinema.
Following the international success of “Wild Strawberries” and “Seventh Seal,” Bergman gained a reputation as an icy Scandinavian perfectionist. Before doubling down on the image with his emotionally challenging successive projects, Bergman issued a personal missive in the form of “The Magician.”
The film depicts a traveling group of entertainers, spiritualists, and charlatans in 19th century Europe. Max von Sydow leads the coterie as a mute mystic named Albert Emanuel Vogler.
The surname here, is essential. Bergman repurposed through his work as if it was itself a member of his acting troop. Always, Vogler meant menace. The translation itself - bird…
I’m so bored of people talking about Bergman like he's a dour, laborious filmmaker, or a distant intellectual that they simply can't reach or read. Bergman was so many things, as any great artist must be, and here he is at his most playful and genre aware, but no less searching in his intellect.
Visually and tonally this is moody and shrouded, but with phrasing that turns towards comedy, tragedy, and triumph. It’s filled with evocations and riddles, potions and spells, mesmerisms, ghosts, thunderstorms, haunted woods, witches, and maidens, and yet, like any great magic show, it truly has none of these things. The unexplained is explained, ridiculed, made absurd in the light of day, then suddenly we're plunged back…
Action! - of God and Man: Bergman and the Hopelessness Kind
Before releasing arguably one of the greatest revenge films in cinema, Bergman got a little personal and exact his own personal vendetta on his critics the only way Bergman can: with a multi-layered, psychological drama with some hints of horror and black humor. A movie that’s really good seeing it just as another movie, but it becomes increasingly more interesting when you start peeling things up and dive deeper into its meanings and uncover all its meanings. Like the magician our lead finds in the forest, his names translates to “mirror” and therefore you can draw a comparison, “create a reflection” between the two. There’s also the whole nods…
I’ve come to Bergman rather reluctantly. There’s a presupposition that his films are overtly philosophical and full of abstract dialogue that needs to be ‘worked out’ rather than enjoyed. Bergman rivals Kubrick as a director whose films are lumbered with more academic analysis than any creative work should have to bear. In some circles, to name Bergman as a favourite director is to admit you’re so far up your own ass that you can only access movies on a purely intellectual level. Which would make you a pretty sad case.
This movie isn't a chore and I'm going to briefly tell you why without relying on 'interior meanings' or anything that isn't happening immediately on the screen.
Set in the…
totally underrated and forgotten, Ansiktet being the quintessential Bergman to me. all his central motifs about life, love, artistry and the craftsmanship are put on point in the richest script, the most beautiful of his scenarios (within his superior 19th century period pieces), in enchanting b/w cinematography, having all the main faces of his universe on board. a pure work of magic filmmaking - hot take incoming - never reached again in both, his oevre and european arthouse cinema of the 20th century. a top 10 evergreen in my books.
the magician occupies a strange place in western culture -- she is simultaneously a conjurer, a charlatan, a savior, a monster, a healer, a killer, a vagrant, a master, a priest, a satanist, an aristocrat, a barbarian, a philosopher -- above all, a fool. we hate and scorn the magicians for their supposed desire to trick us, yet we cannot live without the wonder that they bring into our lives -- on some level, we want to be fooled, we want to believe in their lies, we want to believe that those lies are real -- but aren't they?
politicians and capitalists use 'factual' statistics to justify systemic oppression and war, the scientist's empirical observations are used to construct atomic…
It is one of those films in the vast portfolio of Bergman that you might not have heard about a lot but when you get to it, you realize how magnificent yet under-apperciated it really is. As usual, Sydow leads with Ingrid Thulin and a couple of other familiar faces are there as well.
Bergman brings a dark yet very funny look at what illusion, belief and truth can be. Magic and science collide. From start to end, he is playing with the idea of deception - how even the smartest people in the room can be fooled whether it is in the name of love, fear or revenge.
Surely, there are hidden meanings in a lot of things here,…
I've always pictured the swedish master to be a nosferatu-like figure walking around shrouded in black mist, hiding in shadows with only half his face visible, rarely makes any noise and when he does it is to talk about death as something more than an abstract concept. But now he's shown me he can be quite playful as well, didn't resist his urge to add a few horror elements inside his work but still, this is different from the emo-Bergman I know. Too much -- light, too much laughter, not enough philosophical ponderings.. but these are not complaints, mind you. The Magician is a wonderful addition into Mr. Bergman's filmography.
P.S. it has gotten to the point where I have to squeal out loud every time Ingrid Thulin is on screen, what a beauty!
A troupe of traveling artists led by a magician face the mockery and skepticism of a group of men who want to corroborate that the show is a farce. In Ansiktet, Ingmar Bergman reflects on the existence of absolute truths in a game between science, supported by reason, and mysticism where the intangible and uncertainties converge. At the same time, the director continues to express his deep interest in death and man's relationship with God. Unfortunately, on this occasion I found his musings boring and unstimulating. The film is a rare mixture of satire, farce, horror and drama that never really sets in, and the theatricality with which the filmmaker suggests that cinema is also an illusion becomes a little suffocating. Honestly, I would be lying if I said that this work hasn't been a disappointment.
☆"They hate you because they don't understand you. But I do."☆
My Journey into the Films of Ingmar Bergman -- Part 19 of 62
Ansiktet -- literally "The Face," released in English as The Magician -- continues Bergman's run of idiosyncratic genre blends and challenging conventions. Gothic horror, dark wit, and psychological drama come together in this underrated knockout.
Magician Albert Vogler (Max von Sydow) leads a traveling troupe of performers in the 1800s, Vogler's Magnetic Health Theater, each claiming supernatural abilities including his Granny (Naima Wifstrand), wife Manda (Ingrid Thulin), and assistant Tubal (Åke Fridell). Albert himself says he is learned in animal magnetism, or mesmerism. Through the Swedish woods they discover a sickened former vaudevillian, Johan (Bengt Ekerot),…
Bergman pulls a rabbit out of a hat 🎩 for this film and blends comedy and horror in an ingenious way to create a captivating movie of illusions and hoaxes. This movie is a thinly veiled commentary on the fact that all artists are in essence magicians, tricking their audience with light and shadows into believing what they put up on the screen. The movie is also a scathing attack on highbrow critics who at times attacked Bergman’s cinematic and theatrical productions, much to his chagrin. In essence, Bergman, as a filmmaker, proves himself to be a first rate magician. The great Max von Sydow is the star of this film. He plays Dr. Bolger, a nineteenth century traveling mesmerist and…
“Either this is a dream or I’m losing my mind. Since it’s inconceivable that I’ve lost all reason, I’ll just wait till I wake up.”
Enjoyed the gothic imagery and comedic elements, but largely this left me cold. Not on the level of Bergman’s more illustrious work.
Watched via BFI Player.
