Editing Ingmar Bergman (section)

===Subjects===
Bergman's films usually deal with [[existentialism|existential]] questions of mortality, loneliness, and religious faith. In addition to these cerebral topics, however, sexual desire features in the foreground of most of his films, whether the central event is [[medieval]] [[Plague (disease)|plague]] (''[[The Seventh Seal]]''), upper-class family activity in early twentieth century Uppsala (''[[Fanny and Alexander]]''), or contemporary alienation (''[[The Silence (1963 film)|The Silence]]''). His female characters are usually more in touch with their sexuality than their male equivalents, and unafraid to proclaim it, sometimes with breathtaking overtness (as in ''[[Cries and Whispers]]'') as would define the work of "the conjurer," as Bergman called himself in a 1960 ''[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]'' cover story.<ref>{{cite news|title=THE SCREEN: I Am A Conjurer|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,871569,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202023804/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,871569,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 December 2007|magazine=Time|date=14 March 1960|access-date=16 November 2009}}</ref> In an interview with ''[[Playboy]]'' in 1964, he said: "The manifestation of sex is very important, and particularly to me, for above all, I don't want to make merely intellectual films. I want audiences to feel, to sense my films. This to me is much more important than their understanding them." Film, Bergman said, was his demanding mistress.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Ingmar Bergman's The Silence: Pictures in the Typewriter, Writings on the Screen|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J8QrcD04RjkC|publisher = University of Washington Press|date = 1 April 2010|isbn = 9780295801957|language = en|first = Maaret|last = Koskinen}}</ref> While he was a [[social democracy|social democrat]] as an adult, Bergman stated that "as an artist I'm not politically involved ... I don't make [[propaganda]] for either one attitude or the other."<ref>''Bergman on Bergman: Interviews with Ingmar Bergman''. By Stig Björkman, Torsten Manns, and Jonas Sima; translated by Paul Britten Austin. Simon & Schuster, New York. p. 176-178. Swedish edition copyright 1970; English translation 1973.</ref>