Years & Movies: 1978
According to FilmGourmand, Ingmar Bergman's family drama "Autumn Sonata" was recognized as the best film in the world cinema of 1978.
Liv Ullman and Ingrid Bergman were originally planned by Ingmar Bergman to star in two main roles in this film. And if in relation to Liv Ullman this decision was quite expected and predictable, since before the "Autumn Sonata" Liv Ullman starred in seven films of this director and acquired the reputation of "Bergman's actress", then in regard to Ingrid Bergman the director's decision seemed rather unexpected. (However, many, including myself, then, in the late seventies, believed that Ingmar and Ingrid Bergman were spouses. Only much later it turned out that they were not even relatives.)
It is known that Ingrid Bergman, having received a script for a future film and an offer to star in it, was literally shocked by how similar the biography of the proposed heroine was with her own biography. After all, Ingrid Bergman, in the same way, at one time abandoned her daughter Pia in America and flew off to Italy, offering herself to the Italian film director Roberto Rossellini. First as an actress, and then becoming his wife. This act of the actress was severely obstructed by the American cultural community. Perhaps it was these circumstances that prompted Bergman to focus precisely on his famous namesake.
The premiere of the film "Autumn Sonata" took place on October 8, 1978 in Sweden. And this despite the fact that Ingmar Bergman was "on the run" at that time: due to claims against him from the Swedish tax authorities, he was forced to stay outside Sweden. For the same reason, "Autumn Sonata" was funded by Bergman's West German-registered company Personafilm GmbH and the British Incorporated Television Company, or ITC Entertainment. The film was shot at an old film studio near Oslo in Norway.
In early 1979, Ingmar Bergman's film "Autumn Sonata" received two nominations for the American Golden Globe Award and won the most important of them - Best Foreign Language Film. True, it should be noted that Bergman's film had no serious competitors in the dispute for this award. Bergman's film received only two Academy Award nominations from the Academy Awards - Best Lead Actress and Best Original Screenplay. But in none of them did the film win.
In Europe, "Autumn Sonata" won the Danish Bodil Film Award for Best European Film. In addition, the film was nominated for the French César Award for Best Foreign Film. But César, by the decision of the French film academics, went to the Italian film "L'albero degli zoccoli (The Tree of Wooden Clogs)" directed by Ermanno Olmi.
Among the reviews of the film by professional film critics, downright mocking, if not scornful reviews prevailed. So, Gary Arnold from The Washington Post wrote: "Ingmar Bergman's "Autumn Sonata," is a dubious variation on familiar neurotic themes. If anything, Bergman places an insupportable strain on his customary inconsolable tune by presenting a new note of accusatory self-pity, indulged in by a resentful child at the expense of an allegedly negligent parent. At its worst this movie sounds like the ideal entertainment for the guy who recently sued his parents on grounds of mental cruelty."
Or Paul Taylor (TimeOut): "Routine obsessions, routine hysteria; maybe even a routine masterpiece. Of course Bergman's actresses suffer superbly in microscopic close-up, but the nagging doubt persists as to whether this is incisive psychodrama or just those old nordic blues again."
And Roger Ebert did not honor Bergman's film with a single review or a single star. However, it is possible that during the demonstration of the film he was in another binge. Or he was treated for alcoholism.
But ordinary moviegoers, that is, those for whom a movie is made and who does not earn on order to praise or blaspheme the film, rated Bergman's film very highly. 73% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this movie ratings from 8 to 10. And more than 20%, or every fifth user, gave this movie the highest score - 10.
With that said, the rating of Ingmar Bergman's film "Autumn Sonata" by FilmGourmand was 8.995, making it the 168th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
In addition to Bergman's "Autumn Sonata", the following films were included in the top ten films of world cinema in 1978 according to FilmGourmand:
- L'albero degli zoccoli (The Tree of Wooden Clogs), director Ermanno Olmi, Italy. Movie's Rating - 8,745; 229th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- The Deer Hunter, director Michael Cimino, USA. Movie's Rating - 8,672; 257th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Сибириада (Siberiade), director Andrey Konchalovskiy, USSR. Movie's Rating - 8,633; 269th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Старомодная комедия (Old fashioned comedy), directors Era Savelyeva, Tatyana Berezantseva, USSR. Movie's Rating - 8,160; 516th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Пять вечеров (Five Evenings), director Nikita Mikhalkov, USSR. Movie's Rating - 7,995; 719th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Midnight Express, director Alan Parker, USA.
- Zui quan 醉拳 (Drunken Master), director Woo-Ping Yuen, China
- Days of Heaven, director Terrence Malick, USA
- Мой ласковый и нежный зверь (The Shooting Party), director Emil Loteanu, USSR
10 most "cinegenic"*, in our opinion, events of 1978:
- Iranian revolution. In Iran, after the brutal suppression of a peaceful anti-government demonstration, unrest began, which ended in a revolution: Shah Mohamed Reza Pahlavi fled, the monarchy was abolished, and the Islamic clergy came to power led by Ayatollah Khomeini.
- Massacre at a textile factory in Multan Coloni. Workers at a textile factory in the city of Multan, Pakistan's Punjab province, went on strike after learning that their wages were a tiny fraction of the income earned by the factory owners. The strike coincided with the wedding of the factory owner's daughter, whose guest was Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, who had come to power in Pakistan in a military coup the year before. Zia ul-Haq ordered to shoot at the striking workers. More than 200 people were killed and many were injured.
- Saurian revolution in Afghanistan. The funeral of Mir Akbar Khaybar, the editor-in-chief of an opposition newspaper whose murder was suspected by government intelligence agencies, gathered more than 20,000 participants and frightened Afghan President Mohammad Daoud. Daoud ordered the arrest of the leaders of the opposition People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). The consequence of this arrest was an armed uprising, during which the president and his entire family were killed. A pro-Soviet government came to power, headed by Nur Mohammed Taraki.
- Attempted assassination of Larry Flynt. Joseph Paul Franklin, a militant white supremacist and serial killer, shot Larry Flynt, owner of the porn magazine Hustler. The reason for the assassination attempt, according to Franklin, was a photograph of interracial sex published in the magazine. The assassination attempt resulted in Flint's partial paralysis due to irreversible spinal cord injury, which tied him to a wheelchair for life.
- Murder of Harvey Milk. Harvey Milk, the first politician to openly confess to homosexuality, is killed in the United States.
- The kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro. In Rome, ex-Prime Minister of Italy Aldo Moro was kidnapped by militants of the "Red Brigades". During the abduction, the driver and four of the politician's bodyguards were killed. About two months later, Aldo Moro's corpse, riddled with machine gun fire, was found in the trunk of a car.
- Tabas earthquake. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 occurred in the Iranian city of Tabas, which claimed the lives of 15 thousand to 22 thousand people.
- The Johnstown incident. In Guyana, 909 members of the Temple of the Nations community (including 270 children), founded by US religious preacher Jim Jones, were found dead. The official version of the American intelligence services is mass suicide. But many facts testify to the murder, possibly with the aim of preventing the community from moving to the USSR.
- Massacre at Beyazit Square. In Turkey, on Beyazit Square in Istanbul, activists of the far-right organization "Gray Wolves" committed a terrorist attack directed against leftist students. 7 people were killed, 40 people were injured.
- Incident with a South Korean plane. A South Korean passenger plane entered Soviet airspace over the Kola Peninsula, was intercepted and attacked by Soviet fighters, and forcibly landed on a frozen lake. In this case, two passengers were killed.
In addition, Rachel McAdams, Rani Mukherjee, Zoe Saldana were born.
* -With "cinematic" in the present context, we mean events that either have already found their reflection in world cinema, or deserve to become the basis of the plot of a future film.