Ingmar Bergman 1918-2007

Ingmar Bergman, who has died at the age of 89, wasn't just a great film director, he was also a great screenwriter. Indeed, his first success came with the script for the 1944 film Hets (Frenzy), directed by Alf Sjöberg and a major prizewinner at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946.

In addition to writing the screenplays for most of the films he directed, including classics such as Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal, he also wrote for other directors. The Best Intentions, screenplay by Bergman and directed by Bille August, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1992.

There are obituaries for Bergman in all the major newspapers and film sites. The Guardian, has a whole section devoted to him, including tributes, archive articles and an obituary by Brian Baxter.

His films had a grim obsession with physical confrontation (he once remarked that he would like to have made a film entirely in close-up) made possible by his collaborations with two great cameramen and his team of skilled performers, and Bergman literally astonished people with his willingness to recognise cruelty, death and above all the torment of doubt.