Existentialist Themes in Film- Ingmar Bergman and Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard:

Brief biography:

·         December 3, 1980- present

·         Born in Paris, France. He was the second of four children. Became a naturalized Swiss citizen in the 1940s. His father was a doctor with his own private clinic while his mother came from a long line of Swiss bankers.

·         French / Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic.

·         His film-making approach reflected his interest in how the cinematic form intertwines with social reality.

Notable Works:

·         Breathless (1959)

o   This film is about cowardliness, foreboding, betrayal and death; on the difficulty of being who we pretend to be and of knowing ourselves.

·         Contempt (1963)

o   This film revolves around the disintegrating relationship between the screenwriter (Paul Javel) and his wife Camille. According to Godard, this is ultimately a film about filmmaking, and his own autobiography.

·         Weekend (1967)

o   An episodic odyssey of an upper-class Parisian couple’s weekend trip to visit the wife’s mother. Social values such as sex, consumerism, and family are explored in surreal ways.

Ingmar Bergman:

Brief Biography:

·         July 14, 1918 - July 30, 2007.

·         Born in Uppsala, Sweden as the son of a Lutheran pastor.

·         Influences on his works- the frequent remarks he received on the importance of his childhood helped him in the development of ideas and moral preoccupations, religious art (primitive, graphic representations of Bible stories and parables that he found in Swedish churches)

·         Swedish Film writer-director

·         Became the hallmark for existential/philosophical relationship drama. He is known to have “created his own cinematic world” through his use of recurring environments, themes, characters, stylistic devices, and more.

Notable Works:

·         Metaphysics and Man (1956-1964)

o   Bergman’s best known films are made during this period.

§  The Seventh Seal (1957)

·         Bergman’s allegory of man’s search for meaning.

§  Wild Strawberries(1957)

·         A dramatization about one man’s voyage of self-discovery

§  “Silence of God” Trilogy (1961-1963)

·         Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

o   This film presents a vision of a family’s near disintegration and a tortured psyche that is further taunted by God’s intangible presence

·         Winter Light (1962)

o   A look at the human craving for personal validation in a world that is seemingly abandoned by God.

·         The Silence (1963)

o   A disturbing and brilliant vision of emotional isolation that occurs in a spiritual void.