114-407: Ang Lee OBS ( Chinese : 李安 ; pinyin : Lǐ Ān ; born October 23, 1954) is a Taiwanese filmmaker. His films are known for their emotional charge and exploration of repressed, hidden emotions. During his career, he has received international critical and popular acclaim and numerous accolades including two Academy Awards , four BAFTA Awards , and three Golden Globe Awards . In 2003, he
228-410: A Blu-ray disc box set comprising 39 of Bergman's features. The set spans Bergman's early career, beginning in the 1940s, up to his final film in 2003. The films are organized non-chronologically, and are instead presented in four groupings that mimic the procession of a film festival . Accompanying the discs is a book featuring critical essays on each of the films, intended to guide the viewer through
342-550: A microbiologist at New York Medical College . They met in 1978 while both were studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . The meeting occurred during a group of international students' trip to Gary, Indiana to watch the Senior League World Series Championship, when the two sat next to each other on the bus. After five years of dating, they married in 1983. Following Lee’s graduation from
456-435: A "genuine movie addict". At the same time, a romantic involvement led to a physical confrontation with his father which resulted in a break in their relationship which lasted for many years. Although he did not graduate from the university, he wrote a number of plays and an opera, and became an assistant director at a local theatre. In 1942, he was given the opportunity to direct one of his own scripts, Caspar's Death . The play
570-499: A 2005 article by Robert K. Elder , Lee was quoted as saying, "What do I know about gay ranch hands in Wyoming?" In spite of the director's distance from the subject at hand, Brokeback Mountain showcased Lee's skills in probing the depths of the human heart. The 2005 movie about the forbidden love between two Wyoming sheepherders immediately caught public attention and became a cultural phenomenon, initiating intense debates and becoming
684-664: A box office hit . The film was critically acclaimed at major international film festivals and won Lee numerous Best Director and Best Picture awards worldwide. Brokeback Mountain was the most acclaimed film of 2005, winning 71 awards and an additional 52 nominations. It won the Golden Lion (best film) award at the Venice International Film Festival and was named 2005's best film by the Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and London film critics. It also won best picture at
798-544: A broad range of genres, including the drama The Ice Storm (1997), the martial arts drama Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), the superhero movie Hulk (2003), and the erotic espionage drama Lust, Caution (2007). "the formation of an individual decides their world perception, especially the things that happen before one is 20, so since he did not go to the US until he was 23, "whatever I do, whatever I absorb outside [Taiwan], my nature remains very Taiwanese... The basic me
912-470: A competition sponsored by Government Information Office of R.O.C., and they came in first and second, respectively. The winning screenplays brought Lee to the attention of Hsu Li-kong ( Chinese : 徐立功 ; pinyin : Xú Lìgōng ), a recently promoted senior manager in a major studio who had a strong interest in Lee's unique style and freshness. Hsu, a first-time producer, invited Lee to direct Pushing Hands ,
1026-478: A conversation he had with Erland Josephson helped him to believe that he would see Ingrid again. He said, "I'm not actually afraid of dying. On the contrary, really. I think it'll be interesting." In 2012, Max von Sydow stated in an interview with Charlie Rose that he had had many discussions with Bergman about religion which seemed to indicate that Bergman believed in an afterlife, with von Sydow even claiming that Bergman contacted him after his passing to prove there
1140-468: A crimson color scheme for Cries and Whispers (1972), which received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture . He also produced extensively for Swedish television at this time. Two works of note were Scenes from a Marriage ( Scener ur ett äktenskap , 1973) and The Magic Flute ( Trollflöjten , 1975). On 30 January 1976, while rehearsing August Strindberg 's The Dance of Death at
1254-485: A discussion with Ayoade on Bergman's 1966 film, Persona , before a screening. After Bergman died, a large archive of notes was donated to the Swedish Film Institute . Among the notes are several unpublished and unfinished scripts both for stage and films, and many more ideas for works in different stages of development. A never-performed play has the title Kärlek utan älskare ("Love without lovers"), and has
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#17328484755261368-455: A few times with Danny Elfman . Order of Brilliant Star Order of Brilliant Star ( Chinese : 景星勳章 ; pinyin : Jǐng xīng xūnzhāng ) is a civilian order of the Republic of China (Taiwan) recognizing outstanding contributions to the development of the nation. The order is instituted in 1941 and can be awarded to both domestic and foreign nationals. The centre of the medal
1482-710: A film that depicts traditional values, modern relationships, and family conflicts in Taipei . The film was a box office hit and was critically acclaimed. For a second consecutive year, Lee's film received the Best Foreign Language Film nomination in both the Golden Globe and Academy Awards, as well as in the British Academy Awards (BAFTA)s. Eat Drink Man Woman won five awards in Taiwan and internationally, including
1596-564: A financial success, grossing over $ 245 million at the box office. After the setback, Lee considered retiring early, but his father encouraged him to continue making movies. Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, writing, "Lee is trying to actually deal with the issues in the story of the Hulk, instead of simply cutting to brainless visual effects ." Lee took on a small-budget, low-profile independent film based on Annie Proulx 's Pulitzer Prize -finalist short story, Brokeback Mountain . In
1710-538: A full-length feature that debuted in 1991. The 'Father Knows Best' trilogy Pushing Hands (1991) was a success in Taiwan both among critics and at the box office. It received eight nominations in the Golden Horse Film Festival , Taiwan's premier film festival. Inspired by the success, Hsu Li-kong collaborated with Lee in their second film, The Wedding Banquet (1993), which won the Golden Bear at
1824-677: A name for himself early on. His first work after graduation was as a trainee-director at a Stockholm theatre. At twenty-six years, he became the youngest theatrical manager in Europe at the Helsingborg City Theatre . He stayed at Helsingborg for three years and then became the director at Gothenburg city theatre from 1946 to 1949. He became director of the Malmö City Theatre in 1953, and remained for seven years. Many of his star actors were people with whom he began working on stage. He
1938-585: A play with the title Från sperm till spöke ("From sperm to spook"). The Swedish director Marcus Lindeen went through the material, and inspired by Kärlek utan älskare he took samples from many of the works and turned them into a play, titled Arkivet för orealiserbara drömmar och visioner ("The archive for unrealisable dreams and visions"). Lindeen's play premiered on 28 May 2012 at the Stockholm City Theatre . In 2018, in honor of Bergman's 100th birthday, The Criterion Collection compiled and released
2052-705: A poll by Total Film magazine. Lee has also received awards from the French Government including becoming a Knight of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2012). and a Knight of the French Legion of Honor (2021) In 2020 he received a BAFTA Fellowship for his Outstanding Contributions to British Cinema. Lee has been nominated for nine Academy Awards , of which he has won three: Best Foreign Language Film for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Best Director for Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi , becoming
2166-443: A response what he viewed as Håkanson's implication that students "who did not fit some arbitrary prescription of worthiness deserved the system's cruel neglect". Bergman also stated in the letter that he "hated school as a principle, as a system and as an institution. And as such I have definitely not wanted to criticize my own school, but all schools." The international success of this film led to Bergman's first opportunity to direct
2280-418: A senior DIA official being hunted by a young clone of himself right as he is about to retire from the agency. Will Smith was cast in the lead role. In January 2018, Clive Owen and Mary Elizabeth Winstead had been cast as the antagonist and female lead respectively. The film was released on October 11, 2019 to negative reviews and flopped at the box office. Alissa Wilkinson of Vox wrote, "If Gemini Man
2394-553: A student from Taiwan, who was pursuing her PhD degree. Thereupon, he enrolled at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University , where he received his MFA in film production. He was a classmate of Spike Lee and worked on the crew of his thesis film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads . During graduate school, Lee finished a 16mm short film, Shades of the Lake (1982), which won
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#17328484755262508-524: A team from the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Mainland China for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). The film starred Chow Yun-fat , Michelle Yeoh , and Zhang Ziyi and had surprising success worldwide. With Chinese dialogue and English subtitles, the film became the highest grossing foreign film in many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Critics praised
2622-500: A theatrical career that included periods as Leading Director of Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm and of Germany's Residenztheater in Munich. He directed more than 170 plays. Among his company of actors were Harriet Andersson , Bibi Andersson , Liv Ullmann , Gunnar Björnstrand , Erland Josephson , Ingrid Thulin , Gunnel Lindblom and Max von Sydow . Ernst Ingmar Bergman
2736-433: A trilogy or cinematic triptych . Bergman initially responded that he did not plan these three films as a trilogy and that he could not see any common motifs in them, but he later seemed to adopt the notion, with some equivocation. His parody of the films of Federico Fellini , All These Women ( För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor ) was released in 1964. Persona (1966), starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann,
2850-407: A year later. During the next ten years he wrote and directed more than a dozen films, including Prison ( Fängelse ) in 1949, as well as Sawdust and Tinsel ( Gycklarnas afton ) and Summer with Monika ( Sommaren med Monika ), both released in 1953. Bergman first achieved worldwide success with Smiles of a Summer Night ( Sommarnattens leende , 1955), which won for "Best poetic humour" and
2964-477: A year, he had created a private world by playing with this toy in which he felt completely at home. He fashioned his own scenery, marionettes , and lighting effects and gave puppet productions of Strindberg plays in which he spoke all the parts." Bergman attended the Palmgren School as a teenager. His school years were unhappy, and he remembered them unfavourably in later years. In a 1944 letter concerning
3078-511: Is a film Bergman considered one of his most important works. While the highly experimental film won few awards, it has been considered his masterpiece. Other films of the period include The Virgin Spring ( Jungfrukällan , 1960), Hour of the Wolf ( Vargtimmen , 1968), Shame ( Skammen , 1968) and The Passion of Anna ( En Passion , 1969). With his cinematographer Sven Nykvist , Bergman made use of
3192-561: Is a five-pointed star in token of virtue. The name 'Brilliant Star' came from the ancient book of Records of the Grand Historian ( 史記 ) which says "The Brilliant Stars, which differs in appearance from time to time, shine upon the nations of the righteous." There are nine ranks within the order according to the Article of Decorations of the Republic of China. First rank should be awarded by
3306-477: Is always in my head. He is part of my upbringing and I was fortunate to meet him and get advice from him." Writer and director Richard Ayoade counts Bergman as one of his inspirations. In 2017, the British Film Institute (BFI) hosted an Ingmar Bergman season and Ayoade said in a Guardian interview that he saw everything in it, "which was one of the best two months ever." The BFI's programme included
3420-592: Is humiliating" and joked that the private lavatories he secured at the theatres in which he worked represented his "most lasting contribution to the history of theatre." In 1958, he won the Best Director award for Brink of Life at the Cannes Film Festival , and won the Golden Bear for Wild Strawberries at the Berlin International Film Festival . In 1960 Bergman was featured in
3534-692: Is the future of big-budget filmmaking, I hope someone in Hollywood is getting worried." Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "it was the script that never lived up to the promise of its premise." In 2013, Lee began development on a film dramatising Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali 's heavyweight title fight, known as the Thrilla in Manila . The film was to be produced by Universal with a screenplay written by Peter Morgan , but Lee later put it on hold in 2014 in order to make Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk . In December 2015, it
Ang Lee - Misplaced Pages Continue
3648-620: Is the recipient of the Order of Brilliant Star , the second highest civilian honor bestowed by the government of Taiwan . On November 30, 2021, Lee received the Presidential Culture Award in the arts and culture category from Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen . Lee received Japan's Praemium Imperiale in 2024. Lee has had a career-long collaboration with producer and screenwriter James Schamus and editor Tim Squyres . He has also worked several times with music composer Mychael Danna and
3762-482: The 2012 edition of Sight & Sound 's Greatest Films of All Time . Other notable works include Sawdust and Tinsel (1953), A Lesson in Love (1954), Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Virgin Spring (1960), Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light and The Silence (both 1963), Shame (1968), Cries and Whispers (1972), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), and Autumn Sonata (1978). He
3876-676: The 43rd Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated as the Best Foreign Language Film in both the Golden Globe and the Academy Awards. In all, this film collected eleven Taiwanese and international awards and made Lee a rising star. These first two movies were based on stories of Chinese Americans, and both were filmed in the US. In 1994, Hsu invited Lee to return to Taiwan to make Eat Drink Man Woman ,
3990-506: The Academy Awards , but the Academy ruled that an insufficient number of Taiwanese nationals had participated in the production, thus disqualifying it from further consideration; it was not nominated for any other category. Lee was chosen to be president of the jury for the 2009 Venice Film Festival . Lee's next film after 2009's Taking Woodstock was Life of Pi , which was adapted from
4104-579: The Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2003. Bergman was married five times: The first four marriages ended in divorce, while the last ended when his wife Ingrid died of stomach cancer in 1995, aged 65. Aside from his marriages, Bergman had romantic relationships with actresses Harriet Andersson (1952–1955), Bibi Andersson (1955–1959), and Liv Ullmann (1965–1970). He was the father of writer Linn Ullmann with Ullmann. In all, Bergman had nine children, one of whom predeceased him. Bergman eventually married all
4218-496: The Father Knows Best trilogy. The films were critically successful both in Taiwan and internationally. His breakthrough in Hollywood was the costume drama Sense and Sensibility (1995), which was also his first entirely English-language film. Lee went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Director twice for the romantic drama Brokeback Mountain (2005) and the survival drama Life of Pi (2012). He directed films in
4332-588: The New York Film Festival and received a mixed response from audiences and critics alike and was a box office failure . Many critics criticized its high frame rate . Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described the film as having "neither topical immediacy nor any real historical perspective and, burdened with pedantic and predictable flashbacks, it finally leads nowhere interesting at all." In April 2017, Lee began discussions with Skydance Media to helm an action thriller film, Gemini Man , that follows
4446-628: The President of Republic of China . Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoundly personal meditations into the myriad struggles facing the psyche and the soul". Some of his most acclaimed works include The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957), Persona (1966) and Fanny and Alexander (1982), which were included in
4560-560: The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, he was arrested by two plainclothes police officers and charged with income tax evasion. The impact of the event on Bergman was devastating. He suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of the humiliation, and was hospitalised in a state of deep depression. The investigation was focused on an alleged 1970 transaction of 500,000 Swedish kronor (SEK) between Bergman's Swedish company Cinematograf and its Swiss subsidiary Persona , an entity that
4674-566: The Swedish Film Institute launched a new Ingmar Bergman Prize to be awarded annually for excellence in filmmaking. Still, he remained in Munich until 1984. In one of the last major interviews with Bergman, conducted in 2005 on the island of Fårö , Bergman said that despite being active during the exile, he had effectively lost eight years of his professional life. Bergman retired from filmmaking in December 2003. He had hip surgery in October 2006 and
Ang Lee - Misplaced Pages Continue
4788-559: The Swedish Film Institute , estimated the immediate damage as ten million SEK (kronor) and hundreds of jobs lost. Bergman then briefly considered the possibility of working in America; his next film, The Serpent's Egg (1977) was a West German-U.S. production and his second English-language film (the first being The Touch , 1971). This was followed by a British-Norwegian co-production, Autumn Sonata ( Höstsonaten , 1978) starring Ingrid Bergman (no relation) and Liv Ullmann , and From
4902-534: The Taoist - Buddha . Lee has been involved in the process of filmmaking in various capacities, though the highlight of his career and legacy is his directorial work. The following are Lee's various credits. Lee also directed the commercial Chosen (2001). Acting credits In 2003, Lee was ranked 27th in The Guardian 's 40 best directors. In August 2007, Lee was named the 41st greatest director of all time in
5016-427: The Tisch School of the Arts, New York University , he was a stay-at-home father for six years, supported by Lin, until he won the prize from Taiwan's Government Information Office to make his first film Pushing Hands (1991). They have two sons, including Mason . Lee is sometimes described as a naturalized US citizen but has said he is a permanent resident of the United States . Lee has stated that he believes in
5130-460: The novel of the same name written by Yann Martel . The story was a retrospective first-person narrative from Pi, a then 16-year-old boy from India, who is the only human to survive the sinking of a freighter on the way from India to Canada. He finds himself on a lifeboat with an orangutan, a hyena , a wounded zebra and a Bengal tiger. During this unlikely journey, young Pi questions his belief in God and
5244-533: The 2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association , Directors Guild of America , Writers Guild of America (Adapted Screenplay), Producers Guild of America and the Independent Spirit Awards as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, with Lee winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Brokeback Mountain also won Best Film and Best Director at the 2006 BAFTAs. It
5358-652: The Austen-based Clueless for sheer fun". After this, Lee continued directing in Hollywood. He made The Ice Storm (1997), a drama set in 1970s suburban America, starring Kevin Kline , Sigourney Weaver , Joan Allen , and Tobey Maguire . The film competed at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for the Palme d'Or . It received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay . Angie Errigo of Empire praised
5472-500: The Berlin Film Festival. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and won Best Adapted Screenplay for screenwriter Emma Thompson , who also starred in the movie alongside Alan Rickman , Hugh Grant and Kate Winslet . Sense and Sensibility also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama . Thompson has described the experience of working with Lee in his first English language film, noting how taken aback Lee
5586-669: The Best Director from Independent Spirit . The three films show the Confucian family at risk and star the Taiwanese actor Sihung Lung to form what has been called Lee's "Father Knows Best" trilogy. In 1995, Lee directed Columbia TriStar 's British classic Sense and Sensibility based on the Jane Austen novel of the same name . This made Lee a second-time winner of the Golden Bear at
5700-752: The Best Drama Award in Short Film in Taiwan. His own thesis work, a 43-minute drama, Fine Line (1984), won NYU's Wasserman Award for Outstanding Direction and was also chosen for broadcast by the Public Broadcasting Service . Life after graduation In 1985, Lee's NYU thesis drew attention from the William Morris Agency , the talent and literary agency that later represented Lee. At first, though, WMA found Lee few opportunities, and Lee remained unemployed for six years. During this time, he
5814-518: The German noble families Flach [ sv ] and de Frese introduced at the Swedish Riddarhuset . Bergman's paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather were cousins, making his parents second cousins. On his mother's side, he was descended from Dutch merchant Paul Calwagen, who left Holland for Sweden in the 17th century; Paul's Dutch-Swedish wife, Maria van der Hagen, was a descendant of
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#17328484755265928-633: The Life of the Marionettes ( Aus dem Leben der Marionetten , 1980) which was a British-West German co-production. He temporarily returned to his homeland to direct Fanny and Alexander ( Fanny och Alexander , 1982). Bergman stated that the film would be his last, and that afterwards he would focus on directing theatre. After that he wrote several film scripts and directed a number of television specials. As with previous work for television, some of these productions were later theatrically released. The last such work
6042-590: The Palms) at the 50th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival . He won many other awards and has been nominated for numerous other awards. Academy Awards In 1996, Entertainment Weekly ranked Bergman at No. 8 in its "50 Greatest Directors" list. In 2002, Bergman was listed at number nine on the British Film Institute 's Sight & Sound list of the top ten film directors of modern times. MovieMaker magazine ranked Bergman at No. 13 on their 2002 list of The 25 Most Influential Directors of All Time . Bergman
6156-401: The US and worldwide, and became a critical and box office success. In January 2013, Life of Pi earned 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Visual Effects. He went on to win the Academy Award for Best Director . In 2013, he was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival . In March 2013, it
6270-584: The charges were dropped, Bergman became disconsolate, fearing he would never again return to directing. Despite pleas by the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme , high public figures, and leaders of the film industry, he vowed never to work in Sweden again. He closed down his studio on the island of Fårö , suspended two announced film projects, and went into self-imposed exile in Munich , West Germany . Harry Schein , director of
6384-448: The court painter Laurens van der Plas . Bergman's mother was also a descendant of the noble Tigerschiöld and Weinholz families, as well as the Bure [ sv ] family. Bergman grew up with his older brother Dag and younger sister Margareta surrounded by religious imagery and discussion. His father was a conservative parish minister with strict ideas of parenting. Ingmar
6498-463: The cover of Time , the first foreign-language filmmaker to do so since Leni Riefenstahl in 1936. In 1971, Bergman received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the Academy Awards ceremony. Three of his films ( The Virgin Spring , Through a Glass Darkly , and Fanny and Alexander ) won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film . In 1997, he was awarded the Palme des Palmes (Palm of
6612-550: The day before it was filmed. On the morning of the shoot, he would briefly speak to Nykvist about the mood and composition he hoped for, and then leave Nykvist to work, lacking interruption or comment until post-production discussion of the next day's work. By Bergman's own account, he never had a problem with funding. He cited two reasons for this: one, that he did not live in the United States, which he viewed as obsessed with box-office earnings; and two, that his films tended to be low-budget affairs. ( Cries and Whispers , for instance,
6726-572: The eight years he lived in Hualien were the happiest time of his life before he went north to study at National Arts School. Lee studied in the Provincial Tainan First Senior High School (now National Tainan First Senior High School ) where his father was the principal. He was expected to pass the annual Joint College/University Entrance Examination, the only route to a university education in Republic of China. But after failing
6840-788: The end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 from De'an , Jiangxi province in Mainland China to Taiwan . He grew up in a household that put a heavy emphasis on education. In 1956, when Lee was 2 years old, his family moved to Hualien because his father took a position as the Principal of Taiwan Provincial Hualien Normal School (TPHNS). Lee attended two elementary schools in Hualien : Mingli Elementary School and Affiliated Primary School of Taiwan Provincial Hualien Normal School (now National Dong Hwa University Experimental Primary School ). Lee has mentioned that
6954-510: The exam twice, to the disappointment of his father, he entered a three-year college, the National Arts School (now reorganized and expanded as National Taiwan University of Arts ), and graduated in 1975. His father had wanted him to become a professor, but he had become interested in drama and the arts in college. This early frustration set his career on the path of performance art. Seeing Ingmar Bergman 's film The Virgin Spring (1960)
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#17328484755267068-510: The experience. Upon its release, The New York Times critic Glenn Kenny assessed the set as "impressive and almost exhaustive", and interpreted it as "a fresh case for [Bergman's] continuing importance", in response to criticisms such as Jonathan Rosenbaum 's 2007 opinion piece "Scenes From an Overrated Career". The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award is awarded annually at the Gothenburg Film Festival , in partnership with
7182-399: The film Torment (sometimes known as Frenzy ), which sparked debate on the condition of Swedish high schools (and which Bergman had written), the school's principal Henning Håkanson wrote, among other things, that Bergman had been a "problem child". Bergman wrote in a response that he had strongly disliked the emphasis on homework and testing in his formal schooling. In 1934, aged 16, he
7296-460: The film to make the content suitable for minor audiences in order to be permitted to show Lust, Caution in mainland China. Lust, Caution captured the Golden Lion from the 2007 Biennale Venice Film Festival , making Lee the winner of the highest prize for the second time in three years (Lee is one of only four filmmakers to have won the Golden Lion twice). When Lust, Caution was played in Lee's native Taiwan in its original full-length edition, it
7410-479: The film writing, "Lee seems incapable of making a less than outstanding movie" adding, "The real beauty of this film is the way in which Lee shifts his story from sex farce to youth drama to tragic despair with the help of a perfect ensemble cast". Lee made another film, the revisionist Western drama Ride with the Devil (1999), set during the American Civil War . The film which starred Tobey Maguire , Skeet Ulrich , and Jeffrey Wright received mixed reviews and
7524-501: The film. Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter praised Lee writing, "for his first Chinese-language assignment since 1994’s Eat Drink Man Woman , Lee tries a little martial arts on for size – with jaw-droppingly exhilarating results". He added "A sweeping romantic epic with a strong feminist backbone, the thoroughly entertaining [film] also happens to boast a generous offering of seriously kick-ass action sequences that make The Matrix seem downright quaint by comparison." The film
7638-537: The first non-white director to win the latter prize. For The Wedding Banquet and Sense and Sensibility , Lee won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival ; for Brokeback Mountain and Lust Caution , he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival . Lee is one of four directors to win the Golden Lion twice and the sole filmmaker to have been awarded the Golden Bear twice. Lee has also been awarded Directors Guild of America Awards , Golden Globes and British Academy Film Awards , among others, and
7752-450: The greatest artists of the 20th century ... he found in literature and the performing arts a way of both recreating and questioning the human condition ." Director Martin Scorsese commented that "it's impossible to overestimate the effect that [his] films had on people." Terrence Rafferty of The New York Times wrote that throughout the 1960s, when Bergman "was considered pretty much the last word in cinematic profundity, his every tic
7866-429: The greatest film-maker at work today [...], unsurpassed by anyone in the creation of mood and atmosphere, the subtlety of performance, the avoidance of the obvious, the truthfulness and completeness of characterization. To this one must also add everything else that goes into the making of a film; [...] and I shall look forward with eagerness to each of your films." Film critic Philip French referred to Bergman as "one of
7980-451: The highest regard. There he also states that he managed to push the envelope of film making in the films Persona and Cries and Whispers . Bergman stated on numerous occasions (for example in the interview book Bergman on Bergman ) that The Silence meant the end of the era in which religious questions were a major concern of his films. Bergman said that he would get depressed by his own films: "jittery and ready to cry... and miserable." In
8094-588: The island of Fårö, his name and date of birth were inscribed under his wife's name on a tomb at Roslagsbro churchyard, Norrtälje Municipality , several years before his death. Bergman developed a personal "repertory company" of Swedish actors whom he repeatedly cast in his films, including Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson, Erland Josephson , Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom , and Gunnar Björnstrand, each of whom appeared in at least five Bergman features. Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann, who appeared in nine of Bergman's films and one televisual film ( Saraband ),
8208-451: The late 1990s and 2000s, The Ice Storm had high VHS and DVD sales and rentals and repeated screenings on cable television, which has increased the film's popularity among audiences. In 1999, Hsu Li-kong, Lee's old partner and supporter, invited him to make a movie based on the traditional " wuxia " genre concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Excited about the opportunity to fulfill his childhood dream, Lee assembled
8322-462: The meaning of life. The novel was once considered impossible to make into a movie, but Lee persuaded 20th Century Fox to invest $ 120 million and heavily relied on 3D special effects in post-production. Unlike most other sci-fi precedents, Lee explores the artistic horizon of applying 3D effects and pushes the boundary of how this technology can serve the movie's artistic vision. The movie made its commercial premiere during Thanksgiving weekend of 2012 in
8436-412: The mothers of his children, with the exception of Liv Ullmann. His daughter with his last wife, Ingrid von Rosen, was born twelve years before their marriage. He had dozens of mistresses throughout his life and would justify the affairs to his various wives by telling them: "I have so many lives." Although Bergman once described himself as one who had lost his faith in an afterlife, in 2000 he stated that
8550-443: The next two decades. From the early 1960s, he spent much of his life on the island of Fårö , where he made several films. In the early 1960s he directed three films that explored the theme of faith and doubt in God, Through a Glass Darkly ( Såsom i en Spegel , 1961), Winter Light ( Nattvardsgästerna , 1962), and The Silence ( Tystnaden , 1963). Critics created the notion that the common themes in these three films made them
8664-432: The note "Complete disaster!" written on the envelope; the play is about a director who disappears and an editor who tries to complete a work he has left unfinished. Other canceled projects include the script for a pornographic film which Bergman abandoned since he did not think it was alive enough, a play about a cannibal, some loose scenes set inside a womb, a film about the life of Jesus, a film about The Merry Widow , and
8778-400: The results were often "disastrous" when he did not do so. As his career progressed, Bergman increasingly let his actors improvise their dialogue. In his later films, he wrote just the ideas informing the scene and allowed his actors to determine the exact dialogue. When viewing daily rushes , Bergman stressed the importance of being critical but unemotive, claiming that he asked himself not if
8892-451: The same interview he also stated: "If there is one thing I miss about working with films, it is working with Sven" (Nykvist), the third cinematographer with whom he had collaborated. Although Bergman was universally famous for his contribution to cinema, he was also an active and productive stage director throughout his life. During his studies at what was then Stockholm University College, he became active in its student theatre, where he made
9006-632: The same name . It was his first film since winning the Oscar for Best Director for Life of Pi . The film starred Joe Alwyn , Kristen Stewart , Vin Diesel , Steve Martin , and Chris Tucker . The film is a satire on United States involvement in Iraq , with the story of a soldier whose PTSD is triggered at a Texan football game. It was distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing and was released in November 2016. It premiered at
9120-552: The second highest civilian award, by the R.O.C. government. His next film was Lust, Caution , which was adapted from a novella by the Chinese author Eileen Chang . The story was written in 1950, and was loosely based on an actual event that took place in 1939–1940 in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, China, during World War II. Lust, Caution was distributed by Focus Features and premiered at international film festivals in
9234-450: The summer and early fall of 2007. In the U.S., the movie received a NC-17 rating (no children 17 and under admitted) from the MPAA mainly due to several strongly explicit sex scenes. This was a challenge to the film's distribution because many theater chains in the United States refuse to show NC-17 films. The director and film studio decided not to appeal the decision. Lee removed 9 minutes from
9348-400: The work of "the conjurer," as Bergman called himself in a 1960 TIME cover story. 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,
9462-772: The work was great or terrible, but rather if it was sufficient or needed to be reshot. Bergman's films usually deal with 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 ( The Seventh Seal ), upper-class family activity in early twentieth century Uppsala ( Fanny and Alexander ), or contemporary alienation ( 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
9576-434: Was Saraband (2003), a sequel to Scenes from a Marriage and directed by Bergman when he was 84 years old. Although he continued to operate from Munich, by mid-1978 Bergman had overcome some of his bitterness toward the Swedish government. In July of that year he visited Sweden, celebrating his sixtieth birthday on the island of Fårö, and partly resumed his work as a director at Royal Dramatic Theatre. To honour his return,
9690-417: Was a box office bomb. Entertainment Weekly described it as "oddly unengaging" and the "waxy yellow buildup of earnest tastefulness seals off every character from our access. These Americans aren't action figures; they're collectible figurines." For a time this interrupted Lee's unbroken popularity – from both general audiences and arthouse aficionados – since his first full-length movie. However, in
9804-520: Was a formative experience for him. After finishing his mandatory military service in the Republic of China Navy (ROCN), Lee went to the US in 1979 to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign , where he completed his bachelor's degree in theater in 1980. Originally, Lee was interested in acting, but his challenges with speaking English made it difficult, and he quickly turned to directing. At UIUC, Lee met his future wife, Jane Lin ( Chinese : 林惠嘉 ; pinyin : Lín Huìjiā ), also
9918-470: Was a full-time house-husband, while his wife Jane Lin, a molecular biologist , was the sole breadwinner for the family of four. This arrangement put enormous pressure on the couple, but with Lin's support and understanding, Lee did not abandon his career in film but continued to generate new ideas from movies and performances. He also wrote several screenplays during this time. In 1990, Lee submitted two screenplays, Pushing Hands and The Wedding Banquet , to
10032-479: Was also appointed assistant director of the film. In his second autobiographical book, Images: My Life in Film , Bergman describes the filming of the exteriors as his actual film directorial debut. The film sparked debate on Swedish formal education. When Henning Håkanson (the principal of the high school Bergman had attended) wrote a letter following the film's release, Bergman, according to scholar Frank Gado, disparaged in
10146-449: Was also ranked No. 8 on the magazine's 2002 "Greatest Directors of All Time" list. Bergman directed more than 60 films and documentaries, most of which he also wrote, for both cinema releases and television screenings. Most of his films were set in Sweden, and many of his films from 1961 onward were filmed on the island of Fårö . He forged a creative partnership with his cinematographers Gunnar Fischer and Sven Nykvist . Bergman also had
10260-454: Was announced that Lee would direct a television pilot for the drama series Tyrant , created by Gideon Raff and developed by Howard Gordon and Craig Wright . Production was scheduled for the summer of 2013 for the FX series. However, Lee decided to quit the project to take a break from his hectic schedule. Lee next directed the war drama Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk based on the novel of
10374-605: Was announced that the project, tentatively titled Thrilla in Manila , now with Studio 8, would be his next film after Gemini Man . David Oyelowo and Ray Fisher were reportedly Lee's top choices for the leading roles of Frazier and Ali, respectively, and he hoped to film in 3D. Lee announced in November 2022 that he is working on a biopic on the life of Bruce Lee starring his son, Mason Lee . Lee lives in Larchmont , in Westchester County , New York , with his wife, Jane Lin,
10488-535: Was born in Uppsala on 14 July 1918, the son of nurse Karin (née Åkerblom) and Lutheran minister (and later chaplain to the King of Sweden ) Erik Bergman . His mother was of Walloon descent. The Bergman family was originally from Järvsö . On his father's side, Bergman was a descendant of the noble Bröms , Ehrenskiöld , and Stockenström clergy families of Finnish, German, and Swedish origin. His father also descended from
10602-421: Was everything that one's imagination could desire— angels , saints , dragons, prophets , devils, humans..." Although raised in a devout Lutheran household, Bergman later stated that he lost his faith at age eight, and came to terms with this fact while making Winter Light in 1962. His interest in theatre and film began early; at the age of nine, he traded a set of tin soldiers for a magic lantern . Within
10716-577: Was finished for about $ 450,000, while Scenes from a Marriage , a six-episode television feature, cost only $ 200,000.) Bergman usually wrote his films' screenplays, thinking about them for months or years before starting the actual process of writing, which he viewed as somewhat tedious. His earlier films are carefully constructed and are either based on his plays or written in collaboration with other authors. Bergman stated that in his later works, when on occasion his actors would want to do things differently from his own intention, he would let them, noting that
10830-511: Was growing up here, mixed with a lot of other things. Taiwan is like this. Wherever I shoot my film, it is a Taiwanese film" -Ang Lee, speaks of his attachment to Taiwan. Sabine Cheng & Lilian Wu, October 1, 2016 Lee was born in a waishengren family, in a military dependents' village of the Republic of China Armed Forces , located in Chaochou , Pingtung , a southern agricultural county in Taiwan. Both of Lee's parents moved following
10944-495: Was his demanding mistress. While he was a 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." When asked in the series of interviews later titled "Ingmar Bergman – 3 dokumentärer om film, teater, Fårö och livet" conducted by Marie Nyreröd for Swedish TV and released in 2004, Bergman said that of his works, he held Winter Light , Persona , and Cries and Whispers in
11058-466: Was indeed a life after death, though he chose not to elaborate further on the exact meaning of the statement. In an early draft of his autobiography, Bergman admitted to raping his then-girlfriend Karin Lannby. The portion was edited out for the final version. Bergman suffered from insomnia and severe stomach problems dating back to childhood. He called his nervous stomach "a calamity as foolish as it
11172-457: Was locked up in dark closets for infractions such as wetting himself. "While father preached away in the pulpit and the congregation prayed, sang, or listened", Ingmar wrote in his autobiography Laterna Magica , "I devoted my interest to the church's mysterious world of low arches, thick walls, the smell of eternity , the coloured sunlight quivering above the strangest vegetation of medieval paintings and carved figures on ceilings and walls. There
11286-507: Was mainly used for the paying of salaries to foreign actors. Bergman dissolved Persona in 1974 after having been notified by the Swedish Central Bank and subsequently reported the income. On 23 March 1976, the special prosecutor Anders Nordenadler dropped the charges against Bergman, saying that the alleged crime had no legal basis, and added that it would be like bringing "charges against a person who has stolen his own car, thinking it
11400-501: Was making a difficult recovery. He died in his sleep at age 89; his body was found at his home on the island of Fårö, on 30 July 2007. It was the same day another renowned existentialist film director, Michelangelo Antonioni , died. The interment was private, at the Fårö Church on 18 August 2007. A place in the Fårö churchyard was prepared for him under heavy secrecy. Although he was buried on
11514-490: Was nominated for a leading eight Oscars and was the front runner for Best Picture heading into March 5 ceremony, but lost out to Crash , a story about race relations in Los Angeles, in a controversial upset. He became the first non-white person to win the Best Director at the Academy Awards (which he won again for Life of Pi ). In 2006, following his Best Director Oscar, Lee was bestowed the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon,
11628-490: Was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes the following year. This was followed by The Seventh Seal ( Det sjunde inseglet ) and Wild Strawberries ( Smultronstället ), released in Sweden ten months apart in 1957. The Seventh Seal won a special jury prize and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and Wild Strawberries won numerous awards for Bergman and its star, Victor Sjöström . Bergman continued to be productive for
11742-701: Was nominated in 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture , Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Director. It ended up winning Best Foreign Language Film and three technical awards. In 2003, Lee returned to Hollywood to direct the superhero blockbuster Hulk , his second big-budget movie after the disappointment of Ride with the Devil ' s restricted release. The film was produced by Universal Pictures in collaboration with Marvel Entertainment . It starred Eric Bana as Bruce Banner / The Hulk with supporting performances from Jennifer Connelly , Sam Elliot and Nick Nolte . The film received mixed reviews while being
11856-488: Was ranked 27th in The Guardian 's 40 best directors. Born in Pingtung County , Lee was educated in Taiwan and later in the United States. He rose to prominence directing films such as Pushing Hands (1991), The Wedding Banquet (1993), and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), which explored the relationships and conflicts between tradition and modernity, Eastern and Western; the three films are informally known as
11970-528: Was ranked at No. 36 on Empire magazine's "Top 40 Greatest Directors of All-Time" list in 2005. In 2007, Total Film magazine ranked Bergman at No. 7 on its "100 Greatest Film Directors Ever" list. In 2017, New York magazine ranked Bergman at number 55 on their list of The 100 Best Screenwriters of All Time . Stanley Kubrick admired the work of Bergman and expressed it in personal letter: "Your vision of life has moved me deeply, much more deeply than I have ever been moved by any films. I believe you are
12084-760: Was scrupulously pored over, analyzed, elaborated in ingenious arguments about identity, the nature of film, the fate of the artist in the modern world and so on." Bergman's work was a point of reference and inspiration for director Woody Allen . He described Bergman as “probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera”. Bergman's films are mentioned and praised in Annie Hall and other Allen films. Allen also admired Bergman's longtime director of photography Sven Nykvist and invited him to return as his DP on Crimes and Misdemeanors . Danish Director Thomas Vinterberg has cited Bergman as one of his major influences, "Bergman
12198-400: Was seen by members of Svensk Filmindustri , which then offered Bergman a position working on scripts. He married Else Fisher in 1943. Bergman's film career began in 1941 with his work rewriting scripts, but his first major accomplishment was in 1944 when he wrote the screenplay for Torment (a.k.a. Frenzy ) ( Hets ), a film directed by Alf Sjöberg . Along with writing the screenplay, he
12312-553: Was sent to Germany to spend the summer holidays with family friends. He attended a Nazi rally in Weimar at which he saw Adolf Hitler . He later wrote in Laterna Magica ( The Magic Lantern ) about the visit to Germany, describing how the German family had put a portrait of Hitler on the wall by his bed, and that "for many years, I was on Hitler's side, delighted by his success and saddened by his defeats". Bergman commented that "Hitler
12426-520: Was someone else's". Director General Gösta S Ekman, chief of the Swedish Internal Revenue Service, defended the failed investigation, saying that the investigation was dealing with important legal material and that Bergman was treated just like any other suspect. He expressed regret that Bergman had left the country, hoping that Bergman was a "stronger" person now when the investigation had shown that he had not done any wrong. Although
12540-520: Was the director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm from 1960 to 1966, and manager from 1963 to 1966, where he began a long-time collaboration with choreographer Donya Feuer . After Bergman left Sweden because of the tax evasion incident, he became director of the Residenz Theatre of Munich , West Germany (1977–1984). He remained active in theatre throughout the 1990s and made his final production on stage with Henrik Ibsen 's Ghosts at
12654-409: Was the last to join this group (in the film Persona ), and ultimately became the most closely associated with Bergman, both artistically and personally. They had a daughter together, Linn Ullmann (born 1966). In Bergman's working arrangement with Sven Nykvist, his best-known cinematographer , the two men developed sufficient rapport to allow Bergman not to worry about the composition of a shot until
12768-511: Was unbelievably charismatic . He electrified the crowd. ... The Nazism I had seen seemed fun and youthful." Bergman did two five-month stretches of mandatory military service in Sweden. He later reflected, "When the doors to the concentration camps were thrown open ... I was suddenly ripped of my innocence." Bergman enrolled at Stockholm University College (later renamed Stockholm University ) in 1937, to study art and literature. He spent most of his time involved in student theatre and became
12882-433: Was very well received. Staying in Taiwan to promote the film and to participate in a traditional holiday, Lee got emotional when he found that his work was widely applauded by fellow Taiwanese. Lee admitted that he had low expectations for this film from the U.S. audience since "its pace, its film language;– it's all very Chinese." The film was submitted by Taiwan for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category at
12996-511: Was when the actors asked questions or provided suggestions, something Thompson notes as uncommon in Chinese culture. Once this disjuncture was bridged, Thompson remembered having "the most wonderful time because his notes were so brutal and funny." Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised Lee's adaptation writing, "Mr. Lee is after something more broadly accessible, a sparkling, colorful and utterly contemporary comedy of manners. He achieves this so pleasantly that Sense and Sensibility matches
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