As stated in '2007's Dead Celebrities':

The artist as a motion picture dramatist. Few artists in other creative fields (with the brush upon canvas or pen on paper) will rarely accomplish much to their own satisfaction. In the movies, Bergman, constantly growing and exploring, was able to do better than most. Not an epic-maker, a crowd pleaser or, (God-forbid) a born humorist, brought to his movies an uncompromising honesty regarding existential concerns, well beyond anything that Fellini, Buñuel, Hitchcock, Ford, Kurosawa and Antonioni were able to achieve.

Despite personal and financial controversy, the unique opportunity allowed him as adirector in television, the radio, theater, the opera and the movies, was not lost among his admirers. Landmark movies such as 'The Seventh Seal,' 'The Virgin Spring,' 'Wild Strawberries,' 'Through a Glass Darkly,' 'Persona,' 'Cries and Whispers,' 'Scenes From a Marriage,' 'Autumn Sonata,' 'Fanny and Alexander,' 'Saraband,' etc., are indispensable cinematic experiences.

Few compared and, upon his demise in 2007, those of us who were impacted by him will have to make the best of not ever having the likes of him around.

http://www.bergmanorama.com/ is a fascinating site for becoming reacquainted with his work, with his collaborators and testimonies to his legacy, warts and all. Here, the 'site updates' and the 1976 interview with Sven Nykvist, Bergman's (and sometime Woody Allen's) cinematographer now also deceased, is one of the most insightful and honest asessments that any collaborator may have given about the art of a motion picture creator. http//www.bergamnorama.com/films/face_to_face_nykvist.htm

Don't know that I'll ever discontinue commenting Bergman's place and contribution to that rara avis of contemporary art: the art of moviemaking as a means of self-expression.

Upscale Swedish flick director from a generation ago. Most movies he made are moody and forgettable. They were trendy in their time with lots of critics getting the vapors over them.

I watched "Wild Strawberries" the other night, and except for the fact that it is in black and white, it is a yawner.

A lot of his films are moody and you really have to "get" his movies. One of those artsy, fartsy guys who make films with tons of symbolism and Biblical allegories. Some of them are pretty good, and I'll give him four stars for that.

I've never managed to stay awake through an entire Bergman movie. Am I the only one?

Another of the five greats, penetrating subject matter without out any punches pulled

If Bergman's towering status(in the late 50's and 60's his name was virtually synonymous with serious "arthouse" cinema) has slightly diminished over the years,there's no denying his immense contribution to World films.Smiles of a Summer Night is an elegant and highly enjoyable farce involving aristocrats' sexual antics.The Seventh Seal(in which a medieval knight plays chess with Death) made his name and is still one of the most popular international classics.The meditative Wild Strawberries has also had many admirers;The Magician is an underrated,fascinating drama with elements of horror;The Silence intense and enigmatic;Persona his radical masterpiece;Cries and Whispers a dramatic combination of angst and lavish colours;Fanny and Alexander unusually uplifting and magical-a fitting finale to a famous career as director(though he's continued with occasional screenplays).An imposing figure;i give only 4 stars as i've found his style and occasionally ponderous diet of doom and gloom not always to my liking.

I absolutely love him! He has, not only brought Sweden across the atlantic, but created a world of movies for people like me who think suicide is a natural thing! I love his movies, they make me feel so smart! If you get his movies, you must not be very bright, but the language makes me feel just a little smarter than the rest of you when I watch "Fanny&Alexander".

Perhaps his movies are overly dark and disturbing, but no one can deny that he is the master of his special directorial craft! "The Seventh Seal" makes me shiver.