Our Holiday Favorites…Bergman’s The Magic Flute
THE MAGIC FLUTE (Trollflöjten, 1975, Swedish TV) Ingmar Bergman creates a light-hearted, beautiful and very sweet version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute in this lovely film from 1975. I saw it in the theater around Christmas when it first came out and so I remember it fondly as a holiday film. When my children were young, I rented it and made them watch it (opera! horrors!) on New Year’s Eve one year. I think they liked it. Bergman, who evidentally loved this opera as a youth, offers it to us through the eyes of a young boy in the audience. There is a stage and it is absolutely the opera. If you like The Magic Flute, you’ll love this cast. Papageno will remind you of Sam Gamgee the Hobbit—loveable and huggable. Tamino is very handsome, making the perfect hero of the piece. And the Queen of the Night is not only an incredible soprano, but she is beautiful—stunning, in fact.
Available from Amazon (Criterion Collection). Also available on Netflix. A great holiday treat. Enjoy!
Tags ingmar bergman, mozart, opera
Boy, your holiday fave is so arty! I’m from Arnold, Missouri, so mine is what I like to call the Chewbacca and Pals Star Wars TV Xmas Special that aired on TV as a “two hour film” in 78. Not only did you meet Chewbaccas’s whole fam, but Princess Leia even sang (yes sang, with lyrics) a “special” version of the Star Wars theme song. And oh, that was just as terrible as it sounds.
I like The Magic Flute; I should check that out.
@Brian: I went to a Christmas party years ago where Chewie’s Holiday Special was playing in the background. I love the twenty minute interval where he and his family were speaking to each other with no subtitles. Pretty mind boggling.
[...] *Rebecca’s unconventional choice, The Magic Flute [...]