This film is excellent. It's beyond words. The story is much based on (real, similar and imaginary) experiences of Ingmar Bergman's childhood. The story begins at the grand Christmas celebration of the Ekdahl family in 1907. The Ekdahl family run the local theater in Uppsala, and are a family of both shared and opposite opinions, but a perfect example of blood being thicker than water. They are partly a family of unpleasant experience, yet a joyful and humor group. No cinematography tops this particularly beautiful work by Sven Nykvist, and I couldn't imagine a movie being as warm and beautiful in its raw cleverness as Fanny and Alexander. From the opening of the first scene until the ending of the last, mesmerization is guaranteed. This was Bergman's last work in cinema (although 20+ years of directing and writing for TV and the theater was to come), and he definitely ended on a high note. At the moment the full 5+ hour version is only available on Artificial Eye (DVD), which is a shame, since the representation of the movie (mainly its sound quality) doesn't live up to the standard of the movie itself - furthermore the subtitles aren't optional! Let's all cross our fingers for soon being able to watch this film well-represented on DVD. The movie isn't worth less than the best treatment.