Söndagsbarn (1992)

“I’m a Sunday’s child too,” father and son say in turn as they travel in the film (Bergman’s favorite playwright, August Strindberg, was also born on a Sunday, as was the truth-seeking protagonist “The Student” in his The Ghost Sonata, which Bergman directed several times). The film is the second work in Bergman’s trilogy about his parents’ complicated relationship: the TV series The Best Intentions (1991) and Private Confessions (1996) are the other two. Several episodes are told alternately, featuring “Pu” (Ingmar Bergman) as a child and as an adult, and focusing above all on his relationship with his pastor father. One summer at the family’s summer home in Dalarna, the story depicts tense family life and a journey by train and bicycle, when the father invites the boy to come along to the remote church where he is due to lead a service. Pleasant companionship alternates with sudden outbursts of anger, anxiety, and abuse on the father’s part. In between, the adult Ingmar visits his elderly father to talk about the past and their complicated family relationships.