Ingmar Bergman Centennial: THE MAGIC FLUTE

Director: Ingmar Bergman

1975, Sweden, 135

Screenwriter: Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Cast: Josef Köstlinger, Ulrik Cold, and Håkan Hagegård.

 

(Trollflöjten) This scintillating screen version of Mozart’s beloved opera showed Bergman’s deep knowledge of music and his gift for expressing it in filmic terms. Casting some of Europe’s finest soloists—among them Josef Köstlinger, Ulrik Cold, and Håkan Hagegård—the director lovingly recreated the baroque theater of the Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm to stage the story of the prince Tamino (Köstlinger) and his zestful sidekick Papageno (Hagegård), who seek to save a princess (Irma Urrila) from the clutches of evil. A celebration of love, forgiveness, and the brotherhood of man, Flute is considered by many to be the most exquisite opera film ever made.