Abstract:This chapter draws comparisons between a number of Bergman's films that focus on visionary/charlatan relationships and the diverse portraits of 'Bergman' as both 'visionary filmmaker' and self-reflexi...This chapter draws comparisons between a number of Bergman's films that focus on visionary/charlatan relationships and the diverse portraits of 'Bergman' as both 'visionary filmmaker' and self-reflexive practitioner. In Bergman's films of the 1950s, we often witness the visionary and the charlatan (merged within a single figure) feeding off each other's resources to gain validity and power, as is the case with Jof in The Seventh Seal (1956), for example. However, beyond this there are protagonists plagued by a profound fear of being exposed as charlatans, such as the visionary figure Isak Borg in Wild Strawberries (1957). The charlatan artist/doctor in Bergman's work conjures up a vision of the self as fraud—the returning nightmare of not being able to create or to perform at the expected level in our professions, or to deliver the product we have promoted. Permeating Bergman's creative work is the motivation to convey intuitive visions that have the capacity to melt borders between space and time, or between old age and childhood. Any lingering concern with strict (truth/false) binaries of understanding—of seeing visionaries and charlatans as separate entities for example—disintegrates in Bergman's films, particularly from the mid-1960s onwards, as the concept of secure selves and worlds shatters: Fanny and Alexander (1982) allows for a liberating fluidity of identity. Nevertheless, portraits of Bergman discussing his practice convey an enduring fear of not being capable. This in turn fuels a ritualistic compulsion to generate fresh creative work that lives and is meaningful.Read More