Plot
The story is set during 1907–09 (with an epilogue in 1910), in the Swedish town of Uppsala. It deals with a young boy, Alexander (Bertil Guve), his sister Fanny (Pernilla Allwin), and their well-to-do family, the Ekdahls. The siblings' parents are both involved in theater and are happily married until their father Oscar Allan Edwall suddenly dies from a stroke. Shortly thereafter, their mother, Emilie (Ewa Fröling), finds a new suitor in Edvard Vergérus (Jan Malmsjö), the local bishop, a handsome widower, and accepts his proposal of marriage, moving into his ascetic home and putting the children under his stern and unforgiving rule. He is particularly hard on Alexander, trying to break his will by every means, something Emilie had not expected. The children and their mother soon live as virtual prisoners in the bishop's house until finally the Ekdahl family intervenes, urged by Emilie who has secretly been in touch with her former mother-in-law Helena (Gunn Wållgren) and told her of their dire situation.
With help from their old friend Isak Jacobi (Erland Josephson), a Jewish antiques dealer, as well as some magic, the children are smuggled out of the house, but the Ekdahls' attempts to bribe or threaten the bishop into divorce fail. Emilie, by now pregnant, slips her husband a sedative and flees as he sleeps, after which a fire breaks out and the bishop is burnt to death. In the meantime, Alexander has met the Jewish merchant's mysterious nephew, Ismael Retzinsky (Stina Ekblad), and fantasized about his stepfather's death – it is as if Alexander's fantasy comes true as he dreams it. The story ends on a mainly happy, life-affirming note, with the christening of Emilie's and the late bishop's daughter as well as the illegitimate daughter of Alexander's uncle, Gustav Adolf Ekdahl (Jarl Kulle); this fruit of the lustful man's affair with the nanny, Maj (Pernilla August), is cheerfully adopted into the Ekdahl clan. During the festivities however, Alexander encounters the ghost of the bishop who pushes him to the floor, signalling that he will never be completely free of him.
Read more about this topic: Fanny And Alexander
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