Sweden Cashes In on Ingmar Bergman
The late, iconic director Ingmar Bergman has had a lasting influence across the world, perhaps most distinctly in his native Sweden, where residents can now carry a memento of the filmmaker with them at all times. Earlier this month, Sweden's central bank unveiled a new two-hundred-krona banknote featuring a portrait of a smiling Bergman alongside a behind-the-scenes image from The Seventh Seal, of Bergman and the great actor Bengt Ekerot in his costume as Death. (If you look closely, you can also make out a slyly placed quote from Fanny and Alexander.)
The back of the note highlights the rocky landscape of Fårö, the island that Bergman called home, which he used as the location for a number of his most notable films, including Through a Glass Darkly and Persona. “Because I know that with the help of cinema," reads a quote from the great filmmaker, printed at the bottom of the banknote, “we can enter into hitherto unknown worlds, realities beyond reality.”
(And, as an added bonus for cinephiles, Sweden's new redesign of its one-hundred-krona note showcases the stunning visage of the legendary Swedish actress Greta Garbo.)
