hecklongtree

In Ingmar Bergman's "Winter Light (1961)," a pastor counsels a parishioner who's disturbed by a newspaper article on how the Chinese are raised to hate and that they're about to acquire nuclear weapons. Watching this film, I couldn't help but be reminded of the scene from "Annie Hall" where the mother takes young Alvy to the doctor because the boy is disturbed after reading that the universe is expanding and will eventually break apart. Then there's the another scene in which the pastor reads a letter from his lover, Maerta (Ingrid Thulin), that cuts to a close-up of her, against a stark background, speaking the words of the letter. The shot looks just like the opening of "Annie Hall," with Alvy (Woody Allen) addressing the audience while standing against a similarly stark background.

Now I don't feel so bad that my screenplay "JILTED" borrowed from Woody Allen's "Annie Hall," since, it appears, Allen did much the same kind of borrowing from Ingmar Bergman.