Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Fårö Document 1979 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 31, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Criterion's Ingmar Bergman's Cinema set.

It understandably may be well nigh impossible to choose an "all time greatest filmmaker" of the 20th century, if for no other reason than that personal tastes differ, but I can't imagine any "devoted cineaste" not having Ingmar Bergman at least near the top of their own aggregation. Criterion has been feting some iconic creative forces with expansive box set compendia of films, including Essential Fellini and The Complete Films of Agnès Varda, but in terms of overall offerings and packaging extras, Ingmar Bergman's Cinema may itself be sitting atop a list of finest Blu-ray collection offerings. Some of the films in this impressive collection have in fact had prior releases by Criterion, as should probably be expected, but there are a fair number making their Blu-ray debuts. As tends to be the case with Criterion releases, technical merits are also generally excellent, and the supplements can be very appealing.

Disc 11 of Ingmar Bergman's Cinema aggregates two documentaries which are inevitably interlinked and which I would argue should be seen with each other in order to appreciate the full scope of what Ingmar Bergman achieved. Fårö Document stems from 1969, while Fårö Document 1979 followed a decade later, as its very title announces. Both documentaries explore the rustic island environment where Bergman lived for many years and where several of his most iconic films were shot. Some interested in this pair of documentaries may also want to check out Bergman Island , which Criterion also released.

Kind of interestingly, Fårö Document 1979 takes a page from Michael Apted's memorable Seven Up! series (I talk about it at more length in my recent Boyhood 4K Blu-ray review of Arrow's UK release of that title), in that Bergman returned to the place, and in some cases, the people, who were front and center in his 1969 piece about the island where he spent so much of his life. Things are both different and similar in this follow up piece, with the farming community still struggling to preserve an ancient way of life, but with the island perhaps ironically becoming more of a tourist destination, arguably because of its renown courtesy of Bergman himself. If the first film may have caused alarm among animal rights activists for its sequence involving the slaughter of sheep, this piece also has a bit of "reality" in that regard which may cause equal shock and squeamishness.

Fårö Document 1979 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Fårö Document 1979 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.38:1. Criterion's kind of overwhelming insert book offers nice summations of each film's transfer attributes, and the relevant data points for this film are as follows:

Picture element: 16 mm color reversal intermediate negative, duplicate negative
Scanner: Scanity
Transfer resolution: 2K
Sound element: 17.5 mm magnetic track
Picture and sound restoration: Swedish Film Institute

Additionally, a brief text card at the beginning of this presentation offers a bit of additional information in that the digital restoration was accomplished in 2016. Perhaps due to both a CRI and dupe negative source, this transfer may not have quite the lushness, saturation and detail levels of Fårö Document, but it's often quite appealing on its own terms. Some midrange and wide framings can admittedly lack detail, but most of the interview sequences and certainly the majority of close-ups offer rather abundant fine detail. The palette can be somewhat cool looking as in the earlier feature, but I'd argue it's more consistently rosy and warm at least in places than the 1969 film's color moments. Grain is a bit heavier in this presentation than in Fårö Document, but doesn't really encounter any major hurdles.

Fårö Document 1979 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with the first film, Fårö Document 1979 features an LPCM Mono track that is perfectly supportive of a documentary that has a lot of talking head material, with some brief asides for outdoor vignettes that can offer some appealing ambient environmental sounds. All spoken material is delivered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

Fårö Document 1979 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Daniel (HD; 10:41) is a short by Bergman culled from 16 mm home movies of his son. This was part of a 1967 Swedish omnibus film called Stimulantia.


• Karin's Face (HD; 14:35) is an appealing 1984 short by Bergman about his mother.

Fårö Document 1979 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm not sure Fårö Document 1979 would have quite the emotional resonance it does without its link to the 1969 documentary, but I guess that's part of the story here, in several senses. Technical merits are solid, and the two Bergman shorts included as supplements very appealing. Recommended.