Fanny and AlexanderMovie Reviews

Gifts + Promos

Give the gift of movies with Fandango Bucks Gift Certificates! Design your own gift card, or choose from our collection.

Superhero fans! Don’t miss out on these Limited Edition Avengers gift cards!

Need Help?

Must Go!

Avg. Critic Score: 100 out of 100 Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

Iffy for 16+

Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

100

Boston Globe |
One of his (Bergman's) most life-affirming films. Read full review
100

Chicago Tribune | Michael Wilmington
If the uncut Fanny and Alexander is Bergman's greatest work, as I think, it's because it's his most inclusive. He shows almost everything: all his moods, conflicts, styles and many of his favorite actors. Read full review
100

Chicago Reader | Dave Kehr
The result was one of Bergman's most haunting and suggestive films. Read full review
100

San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle
A masterpiece. Read full review
100

Variety |
Emerges as a sumptuously produced period piece that is also a rich tapestry of childhood memoirs and moods, fear and fancy, employing all the manners and means of the best of cinematic theatrical from high and low comedy to darkest tragedy with detours into the gothic, the ghostly and the gruesome. (Review of Original Release) Read full review
100

Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert
The movie is astonishingly beautiful. The cinematography is by Bergman's longtime collaborator Sven Nykvist. Read full review
90

TV Guide |
The results are quite frightening and far superior to the lengthy gloom and doom that fill many earlier Bergman films. A magical movie, Fanny and Alexander is likely to be the achievement for which Bergman will be most remembered. (Review of Original Release) Read full review
90

Village Voice | Michael Atkinson
Bergman locates a generosity and élan that make F&A feel like his youngest film. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for Fanny and Alexander on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Bergman's epic, mature masterpiece about childhood.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that while this subtitled Swedish film is about two children, ages 10 and 8, its themes and events are weighty and sophisticated, appropriate only for adults and mature teens. The movie contains several disturbing, intense sequences in which the young brother and sister are front and center in the aftermath of their father's death, or being treated cruelly by a villainous step-father. Both children are threatened and Alexander is emotionally tormented by the man, then beaten with a cane until his backside is bloody. In addition, there are fantasy sequences in which one or both children see ghosts, imagine the deaths of their step-father's first wife and his two daughters, and get lost in an exotic, maze-like household in which puppets and other inanimate objects come to life. During fits of anger, Alexander uses harsh profanity, including "f--k," "c--k," "piss," and more. Milder swearing occurs intermittently, and there are some anti-Semitic slurs. Characters drink alcohol frequently, become drunk, and smoke cigars and pipes.

Families can talk about how Alexander's imagination and day dreams help him cope with his real life. How does the movie distinguish between the real and the fantasy? Are there ever occasions in which you or someone you know uses a fantasy life in this way?
Talk about how kids are portrayed in this film. Are there any role models in this movie? How are the kids in this movie portrayed differently than in some more current movies?
Bergman shows two distinct types of family life. How do the places in which they live reflect the people who live there? Whose job is it to choose the design and arrangement of the sets in movies? What do these designers have to keep in mind when doing their work?
What makes this movie so special? Why has it stood the test of time? Teens: Do you find it difficult to watch movies with subtitles? Why or why not?

The good stuff

Positive messages: Family, as well as life itself, is mysterious, complicated, and filled with both joy and sorrow; accepting that will help even the young make their way in the world. Trust is fragile and easily abused.
Positive role models: A multi-faceted look at the many roles adults play in their children's lives from the compassionate, loving, and understanding to the strict, unmercifully rigid, and terrifying. A broad picture of childhood resilience as well as vulnerability.

What to watch for

Violence: Numerous frightening and intense scenes. A young boy is severely beaten by his step-father; while the actual blows from the cane are not shown, the bloody aftermath on the child's bare bottom is seen. When Fanny's and Alexander's father dies, the children witness their mother's uncontrollable grief in a lengthy sequence. In dark, suspense-filled fantasy scenes puppets come to life, scary masks and faces fill the screen, the ghosts of dead loved ones appear, and a strange household becomes a mysterious maze. A diseased woman (shown in closeup) catches fire, runs through a house and sets it and another occupant ablaze.
Sex: There are several scenes with explicit sexual activity between adults with partial nudity (fondling of bare breasts, undressing). A constantly lecherous man playfully makes love to his wife, and seduces a young servant, carrying on an open affair with her with his wife's knowledge; all live in the same household. Some of the classical artwork displayed in the family home includes nudity. Alexander is seen from behind as he urinates.
Language: In two scenes the enraged 10-year-old Alexander utters strings of profanities in Swedish (subtitled in English), including: "s--t," "c--k," "f--k," "p---y," "c--t," "crap," "butt," "piss." Other words heard occasionally: "fart," "damn," "hell," "bastard." A raucous family game shows an inebriated uncle playing chase with the assembled children and lighting his own farts. There is one outpouring of anti-Semitic rhetoric from the movie's darkest villain.
Consumerism: Not an issue
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Alcoholic beverages, including wine, cognac, and beer are consumed by adults often at family celebrations, dinners, social get-togethers, and in moments of stress. Inebriated uncles provide comic relief in a number of scenes, including one in which a servant is seduced. Members of the family smoke pipes and cigars.

Common Sense Media An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.