Ingmar Bergman Dies at 89

Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, one of the giants of cinematic storytelling, died today at 89 after a career spanning more than half a century and over 50 films. Bergman's films scanned the dreary but often resplendent landscape of the human condition, one deeply conditioned by his native country.

The future director cut ties with his father, a strict Lutheran minister, and remained in rebellion all his life. When other directors were defaulting to opaque morals and straightforward plotlines, Bergman dared to incorporate the theater in dark but always conversational films like "Scenes From a Marriage," "Persona," "The Seventh Seal" and "Fanny and Alexander." (More Ingmar Bergman stories.)