David Bersan is an author of essays on film directors Yasujiro Ozu and Ingmar Bergman. Veronese by birth, but Milanese by adoption, he often intervenes as a speaker at cultural initiatives promoted by the municipal libraries of Milan “Crescencego” and “Lambrate”. Bersan also holds a licentiate in spiritual theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
In this exclusive interview with Blasting News, Bersan talks about his works and his future projects.
The interview
What are the reasons that prompted you to create these works?
“The basic goal is to rediscover Ozu and Bergman’s first successes. In fact, Ozu and Bergman lead us to make serious and profound reflections on life and death, helping us to develop a spirituality. They address issues and send messages that are currently considered out of fashion or problematic, but which in my view should instead be rediscovered and explored”.
Let’s talk about the 2020 essay “Father Figures in Ozu”. How did you get the inspiration to write it? What is it about and how is the book structured?
“It’s an elaboration that starts from my experience. It can be considered the result of several years of research and discussions, including public discussions (I’m thinking of the stimulating and enriching meetings held in libraries) on Ozu’s films.
The Japanese director, very sensitive to everything that was happening in the society of his time, felt that secularization was throwing all traditional values into crisis and that the family was the first to suffer from this ongoing process. The book traces these transformations through the author’s works in which, in addition to making room for the concept of “Mono no aware” (i.e. the idea of experiencing change, the flow and the death of things with serene resignation, trusting in a rebirth , in a renewal), the figure of the father plays a leading role”.
Can you tell us about your second work, in which the theme of the Transcendent, present in the background in Ozu’s cinematography, instead decisively takes center stage in the production of Ingmar Bergman which goes from the mid-50s to the early 60s of the century last?
In my second essay dated September 2021 entitled “God reduced to silence – Untimely thoughts on Bergman” I retrace this very period, during which the Swedish director, son of a Protestant pastor, concentrated most of his efforts on this issue.
This Bergman season, marked by theological reflection, seemed to me to be more neglected or in any case less analyzed than the later ones. Questions about the meaning of life, death and faith are not lacking even today, but they are stifled by a cultural climate that tends to devalue them”.
What can you tell us about the styles adopted by these two directors?
“The differences from this point of view are evident. Ozu seems to embrace an impressionist style by gently stimulating feelings and emotions, almost hiding behind the camera. The latter, kept low, seems to welcome the viewer into the scene making him a participant in simple conversations that always revolve around a central point for the author.
Bergman, revealing himself with force, brilliantly identifies himself with the expressionist one. The great Swedish master enters situations directly, involving us deeply and authentically in his experience”.
Future plans?
“I’m still not clear what will come of it, but I’m seeing the works of Eric Rohmer, an author who in some ways resembles Ozu a lot. I am referring not only to the simplicity of the style, but also to the stories that can be analyzed on different levels”.
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Davide Bersan: ‘Let’s rediscover Ozu and Bergman’s first successes’