Following the death of the children's father (Allan Edwall), their mother (Ewa Fröling) remarries a prominent bishop (Jan Malmsjö) who becomes abusive towards Alexander for his vivid imagination.

[17] The screenplay was semi-autobiographical, attempting to portray Bergman's fondest memories in what he called a "happy and privileged" childhood; Alexander himself was meant as a representation of the young Ingmar.

[38] Child actress Pernilla Allwin was cast as Fanny, and she and Guve regarded each other as rivals when they first met and began working; Bergman identified with this sibling rivalry.

[48] For the bishop's house, Asp sought a design that would be frightening while still being a plausible home for a man of the church, and found inspiration from a photograph of a castle in a magazine.

[53] Critic Michiko Kakutani identified Fanny and Alexander as sharing marriage-drama and domestic themes as his Thirst (1949), Scenes from a Marriage (1973) and From the Life of the Marionettes.

[19] In contrast, academic Linda Haverty expressed surprise at Bergman, including his use of fantastical elements such as ghosts and telepathy as they were a departure from the psychological horror of his work in the 1960s and 1970s, for this Bildungsroman story.

[54] Professor Frank Gado argued in his 1986 book The Passion of Ingmar Bergman that Fanny and Alexander is "actually two films, which, except that they concern members of the same family, are dramatically separate entities.

[14] Academic Egil Törnqvist identified the character Gustav Adolf with secular merriment, while Alexander and Isak inhabit a world filled with the supernatural and evil.

[55] Critic Dave Kehr interpreted the fairy tale style as a product of the story being told from Alexander's perspective, coloured with "myth and legend".

[68] Following Oscar's death, Cohen-Shalev argued Emilie chooses to marry Edvard because she is frightened as to how empty she is: "I could not understand why nothing really happened, why I never felt really happy".

[72] Author Viveka Nyberg identified Oedipal themes as pervasive, suggesting Alexander believes he may have killed both his father and stepfather in competition for his mother's love.

[67] The story opens with exploring celebrations of the Swedish Christmas, which is expressed through "colors, sounds, movements, music" that Cineaste critic Royal Brown called "life-affirming, pagan Christianity".

This is starkly contrasted with Edvard's Christianity, which is dictated by asceticism, authoritarianism and concern with death, with Alexander finding his new home a bare, cold prison.

[77] While at Isak's, his nephew Aron Retzinsky brings out a puppet of God, or deus ex machina, to which Alexander reacts with terror; he then tries to play down that fear, and is left to wonder how seriously to take the supernatural.

[80] Erland Josephson, who played Isak, described his performance as a stereotyped portrayal of a Jew, but with mystical and tragic elements, drawing on Jewish people and their history.

[84] Additionally, Humphrey commented on the name, with Ishmael of the Bible being a bastard son of Abraham and progenitor of the Arab people, considered "paradigmatic" by Christians and Jews alike.

[100] There were large audiences in Sweden at showings of Fanny and Alexander, including at the five-hour cut,[101] making it the most popular box-office film Bergman had in his native country.

[8] According to critic Vincent Canby's analysis, the film did "extremely well" and had its niche audience, but could not match summer blockbuster competition which dominated the top 15 spots in the box office, particularly Return of the Jedi.

Upon release in Sweden, the film received generally positive reviews, with Expressen critic Lasse Bergström approving of the portrayal of the Oscarian era.

[112] For The Washington Post, Rita Kempley found the story more cheerful than past Bergman productions, highlighting Ewa Fröling and comparing her to Liv Ullmann.

[19] The Nation critic Robert Hatch compared it to Shakespeare's The Tempest as a final life-affirming work, featuring "magic with the casual authority of Prospero himself".

[120] Pauline Kael wrote a more mixed review, enjoying the merry atmosphere but writing the "conventionality" is "rather shocking", suggesting Bergman had moved to Victorian times to escape his usual eccentric viewpoints.

[122] In 1990, Fanny and Alexander was named the best film of the 1980s by Los Angeles Times by Sheila Benson,[123] who called it "generous, ribald, reflective and radiantly life-affirming",[124] and Michael Wilmington,[125] and the third best by Newsweek critic David Ansen.

[133][134] Also in 2002, Sight and Sound magazine invited several critics to make a list of the best films of last 25 years and Fanny and Alexander was ranked at number three.

The site's consensus reads: "Ingmar Bergman conveys the sweep of childhood with a fastidious attention to detail and sumptuous insight into human frailty in Fanny and Alexander, a masterwork that crystalizes many of the directors' preoccupations into a familial epic".

[142] The four wins was the most any foreign-language film had received at the Academy Awards to date until it tied the record with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Parasite (2019) and All Quiet on the Western Front (2022).

[144] Bergman did not personally attend the ceremony, while working on a stage production in Munich, so his award was accepted by his wife Ingrid von Rosen and Jörn Donner.

[g] Bergman also conceived of a biographical project following his parents Erik and Karin Åkerblom, and in a press conference in August 1989, announced he planned a production that could be considered a follow-up to Fanny and Alexander and his 1987 autobiography The Magic Lantern.

[163] In 2010, stage adaptations also played in Finland, directed by Maria Lundström and Tiina Puumalainen,[164] and Norway, where it was the biggest box office success in the National Theatre's history.

[167] French director Arnaud Desplechin frequently cites Fanny and Alexander as a critical touchstone for his own career, and has labelled his own La Vie des Morts as "a complete rip-off of that film".