Ingmar Bergman, Four Decades in the Theatre, Ingmar Bergman and the Rituals of Art

“Filmmaking is very neurotic,” Ingmar Bergman says in one of the two interviews that frame Lisa-Lone and Frederick J. Marker’s Ingmar Bergman, Four Decades in the Theatre; “You’re obsessed – your work is very neurotic, but the creative work of the theatre, made together with the actors, is a very healthy way of creating.” Coming from a man who knows both forms intimately, this statement is not only intriguing but illuminating. In simple terms, Bergman suggests a possible approach for clarifying the perennial theoretical problem of distinguishing between the two media by focussing on the working process; at the same time, he draws attention to the concern for process which distinguishes his own work.