Fanny And Alexander question (spoiler warning) (1 Viewer)

[Haggai]

I just saw this at a theatrical screening tonight. I was completely confused by one of the most important plot points of the movie, the scene where Uncle Isak smuggles the kids out of the bishop's house in the trunk. It looks like the bishop is on to him, and after a confrontation between the two of them, the bishop runs upstairs to the kids' room with his sister. They burst in, and the kids' mother is there, and in the middle of the room there are...two figures lying on the floor, that look like the kids, I think? The mom says "don't touch them" or something like that. And then Isak gets the trunk out of the house, with the kids hidden inside, without any interference from anyone. So, my question is, what was lying there on the floor in the room? Was the bishop supposed to think that the kids were there on the floor, which would give Isak enough time to get them out in the trunk? If so, what was he really looking at? I was completely and utterly confused by how that scene ended.

 

[Haggai]

Hmmm, just checked IMDB, and somebody asked the same question on the message boards. Somebody else responded with this:



I guess that was the meaning behind the fade out/flash of light as Isak drops to his knees and yells, right when the bishop runs upstairs. Well, whatever. I had no problem with Alexander seeing ghosts in various scenes, supernatural stuff from a kid's point of view is OK by me. But throwing in some magic for one other character, in only one scene, seems pretty lame. I didn't like the "Ishmael" magic subplot either.

Mostly a good movie, I thought, with the first half being especially good. But this random supernatural stuff doesn't work at all for me. I love the dream sequences in Wild Strawberries, one of my favorite movies by any director, but I think Bergman misfired on this one.

 

[Brook K]

I guess I need to watch this again as I don't recall anyone having psychic powers. It's been too long since I've seen it for me to respond specifically to your question, but I'm certain I never considered that either were psychic or had magical powers.

Unfortunately since I've never gotten around to replacing my region free player since it blew up, I can't pop in my R2 DVD and check the relevant scenes.