Oh my heavens, did I screw up or what? And thanks to an astute comment the author of this quote is revealed:
Here’s the complete quote from Irene:
“Film as dream, film as music. No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul. A little twitch in our optic nerve, a shock effect: twenty-four illuminated frames a second, darkness in between, the optic nerve incapable of registering darkness. At the editing table, when I run the strip of film through, frame by frame, I still feel that dizzy sense of magic of my childhood: in the darkness of the wardrobe, I slowly wind on one frame after another, see the almost imperceptible changes, wind faster – a movement.”
Ingmar Bergman
What a very moving and passionate quote.
And it belongs to Ingmar Bergman! See the comment below…
Thanks for telling me.
It’s a beautiful quote, but it belongs to Ingmar Bergman, not to Ingrid. He wrote it in his autobiography “The Magic Lantern”. Unfortunately, the almighty internet “changed” its source through repeated misattributions.
Thank you! That makes a whole lot of sense, it fits his entire sensibility.
No problem! Here’s the entire quote, if you’re interested. (The context is him speaking about the cinema of Tarkovsky, Fellini, Kurosawa, Bunuel, Melies, and saying “When film is not a document, it is dream.”)
“Film as dream, film as music. No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul. A little twitch in our optic nerve, a shock effect: twenty-four illuminated frames a second, darkness in between, the optic nerve incapable of registering darkness. At the editing table, when I run the strip of film through, frame by frame, I still feel that dizzy sense of magic of my childhood: in the darkness of the wardrobe, I slowly wind on one frame after another, see the almost imperceptible changes, wind faster – a movement.”
And I immediately think of “Fanny and Alexander,” wonderful!