The Magic Flute

Trollflöjten

Sweden, 1975

Musical

Synopsis

Ingmar Bergman puts his indelible stamp on Mozart’s exquisite opera in this sublime rendering of one of the composer’s best-loved works: a celebration of love, forgiveness, and the brotherhood of man.

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The Magic Flute Directed by Ingmar Bergman

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Awards & Festivals

Cannes Film Festival

1975

Berlin International Film Festival

2011

Academy Awards

1976 | Nominee: Best Costume Design

National Board of Review

1975 | Winner: Special Citation

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Cast & Crew

Critics reviews

I once believed that this opera was nonsensical, but I was taking it too literally—it is almost a light romantic comedy, perhaps even a satire, about heroes and their failures. I learned this from Bergman’s film, and this insight is, to my mind, his greatest achievement here.

Alexander Chee

November 16, 2018

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While the Mozart purist may take issue with Bergman’s conception of The Magic Flute, no one can deny the technical perfection with which the film has been mounted.

Peter Cowie

June 01, 1975

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One need only have seen any one of Bergman’s films to realize that each flashback invariably begins or ends in the right place; in two right places, I should say, because. . . this sequence change always corresponds to the hero’s inner feeling, provoking in other words a renewal of action – which is an attribute of the truly great. What one mistook for facility was simply a greater rigour.

Jean-Luc Godard

July 01, 1958

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