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Gunnar Björnstrand

Gunnar Björnstrand

Acting

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Gunnar Björnstrand (November 13, 1909 – May 26, 1986) was a Swedish actor known for his frequent work with writer/director Ingmar Bergman. He was born in Stockholm. He appeared in over 120 films. Björnstrand at first had trouble finding work but got an engagement in Helsinki with his wife 1936-1938. Back in Stockholm he met Ingmar Bergman, at that time a mostly unknown theatre director. In the 1940s he got his first major film roles, making a breakthrough with the 1946 movie Kristin kommenderar. He was a versatile actor who could play tough and tender as well as comedy and tragedy. His daughter Veronica Björnstrand is also an actress. One of his most famous roles was as the worldly squire who makes such a contrast to his austere and spiritual master in Bergman's most famous film The Seventh Seal. Description above from the Wikipedia article Gunnar Björnstrand, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia​

Known For

The Seventh Seal
8.2

When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.

The Seventh Seal

1957
The Guldbagge Awards
5.5

The Guldbagge Awards is an official and annual Swedish film awards ceremony honoring achievements in the Swedish film industry. Winners are awarded a statuette depicting a rose chafer, better known by the name Guldbaggen. The awards, first presented in 1964 at the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm, are overseen by the Swedish Film Institute. It is described as the Swedish equivalent of the Academy Awards. The awards ceremony was first televised in 1981.

The Guldbagge Awards

1981
Fanny and Alexander
8.3

Through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander, we witness the delights and conflicts of the Ekdahl family, a sprawling bourgeois clan in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Sweden.

Fanny and Alexander

1984
Persona
8.1

A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer.

Persona

1966
Wild Strawberries
8.1

Crotchety retired doctor Isak Borg travels from Stockholm to Lund, Sweden, with his pregnant and unhappy daughter-in-law, Marianne, in order to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater. Along the way, they encounter a series of hitchhikers, each of whom causes the elderly doctor to muse upon the pleasures and failures of his own life. These include the vivacious young Sara, a dead ringer for the doctor's own first love.

Wild Strawberries

1957
Fanny and Alexander
7.8

As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.

Fanny and Alexander

1982
Autumn Sonata
8.0

After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.

Autumn Sonata

1978
Face to Face
8.3

A psychiatrist temporarily separated from her family begins to experience severe psychological distress while working at a mental hospital and returning to her childhood home. As her professional responsibilities and personal relationships intersect, she undergoes a breakdown that forces her to confront long-suppressed memories and fears. (Note: This entry refers to the 1976 four-part Swedish television miniseries. A condensed theatrical feature edited from the same material was released separately in 1976.)

Face to Face

1976
Shame
7.5

In the midst of a civil war, a pair of former violinists in a tempestuous marriage oversee a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.

Shame

1968
My Sister My Love
6.5

Sweden, 1782. Jacob, a young noble, somewhat wild and vehement, returns from his studies in France. After his absence, he returns home happy, but is even happier of meeting his beloved sister Charlotte again. However, she has been promised to the Baron Alsmeden, a man of great influence at court, and this fact will awake a feeling like jealousy in Jacob.

My Sister My Love

1966
Winter Light
7.9

A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.

Winter Light

1963
Tabu
5.0

Solidarity with the border people. Equal rights for the sexual deviants. Kristoffer Lohman is a young solicitor who collects stories and knowledge of different perversions. This has affected and changed his own sexual life. Sara, a young well-behaved and adorned woman, becomes interested in Kristoffer's activity.

Tabu

1977
Sussie
6.3

A self centered author are having a word feud in a news paper column with a journalist called Sussie. The author has just divorced and now need a new house keeper. Sussie sees her chance to go undercover and takes the job with the intent to dig up some dirt. However, love intervenes.

Sussie

1945
Engeln
8.5

Bertil "Engeln" Engelbrecht is tired of working for his half-brother's detective agency. After being released from prison his girlfriend Maggie begs him to find another job. But leaving his prior work is harder than Bertil thought.

Engeln

1974
Någonstans i Sverige
6.8

In the end of 1939, the Soviet Union attacks Finland. In Sweden, 100.000 men are quickly drafted to guard the northeastern border. Men, who have almost no military training, are suddenly expected to behave as full-fledged soldiers. In one of the units we find 107 Andersson, 111 Loffe and a bunch of men with nicknames as Morsgrisen and Stora Norrland. After some months, the war in Finland is over, but World War II continues and the unit moves to the western border of Sweden, where the men have to stay for many years to come. Sweden is not at war, but some of the men are frightened that the Nazis will one day attack this country.

Någonstans i Sverige

1973
Face to Face
7.2

A psychiatrist temporarily separated from her family begins to experience severe psychological distress while working at a mental hospital and returning to her childhood home. As her professional responsibilities and personal relationships intersect, she undergoes a breakdown that forces her to confront long-suppressed memories and fears. (Note: This entry refers to the 1976 theatrical feature film (approximately 135 minutes), created by condensing and re-editing the four-part Swedish television miniseries originally produced the same year.)

Face to Face

1976
Smiles of a Summer Night
7.4

Early in the 20th century, middle-aged lawyer Fredrik Egerman and his young wife, Anne, have still not consummated their marriage, while Fredrik's son finds himself increasingly attracted to his new stepmother. To make matters worse, Fredrik's old flame Desiree makes a public bet that she can seduce him at a romantic weekend retreat where four couples convene, swapping partners and pairing off in unexpected ways.

Smiles of a Summer Night

1955
The Rite
6.9

Called to court on obscenity charges, a theatre troupe are forced to expose their neuroses and inner psychological torments.

The Rite

1969
The Magician
7.4

A traveling magician and his troupe arrive in a Swedish town in the 1840s, where their act is scrutinized by local authorities and a skeptical medical official. Their stay leads to a series of confrontations that test the boundaries between performance, belief, and deception.

The Magician

1958
Through a Glass Darkly
7.8

Karin hopes to recover from her recent stay at a mental hospital by spending the summer at her family's cottage on a tiny island. Her husband, Martin, cares for her but is frustrated by her physical withdrawal. Her younger brother, Minus, is confused by Karin's vulnerability and his own budding sexuality. Their father, David, cannot overcome his haughty remoteness. Beset by visions, Karin descends further into madness.

Through a Glass Darkly

1961