Fanny and Alexander

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John Tallman's' Blog ColorChunks is a rare treat. Today, he featured a still taken from Bergman's movie about his childhood in Sweden. I loved that film because it reminded me of all the stories I heard growing up of my father's childhood in Europe before the wars. Bergman also filmed a version of The Magic Flute, which was pure magic; it had a sweet dense color, slightly hazy. But the picture above seems to be a kind of dream view of a proscenium from the first balcony, reminiscent of a Mozart opera in period costume. Perhaps I was thinking of that Magic Flute, but it actually feels more like this production of Così fan Tutte starring a young Susan Graham and the magnificent English soprano Susan Chilcott who, tragically, died only a few years after it was made. Così, as a story, doesn't make a lick of sense but it is all about human frailty and there is no greater ensemble singing anywhere, ever. This is Mozart at his most sublime.