The Gerontologist, Vol 32, Issue 6 739-743, Copyright © 1992 by The Gerontological Society of America

ARTICLES

The effect of aging on dramatic realization of old age: the example of Ingmar Bergman

A Cohen-Shalev
School of Education, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Israel.

Ingmar Bergman's films Wild Strawberries and Fanny and Alexander can be viewed as two readings of the psychosocial world of old age. The picture of aging emerging from Wild Strawberries is dominated by pressure toward resolution, and Fanny and Alexander is governed by fragmentation. Closure and fragmentation are related to the artist's position in the life span at the time of creation. Whereas closure appears to be a midlife attempt to handle death anxiety and a sense of finality, fragmentation is the older Bergman's means of adapting to the experience of aging.