What Ingrid Bergman Made Me Question
I have been watching a lot of movies from what is considered the Golden Age of Hollywood—the early ’30s and ’40s—and I was fascinated by Ingrid Bergman. I think she is the most beautiful actress I have ever seen on screen. Absolutely gorgeous, but it wasn’t just that. Her acting, her expressions, the way she conveyed her emotions—all of it kept me, as a viewer, completely hooked to the screen.
So I went down the rabbit hole, reading everything I could about her story. Her life began with tragedy, which eventually transformed her into a gifted and immensely talented artist. From there, she reached the pinnacle of her career. And then she became a pariah in the eyes of the public because she got pregnant by someone outside her marriage. She didn’t back down. She married that person, had three more children with him, and continued doing what she was good at: acting.
She eventually made a comeback in Hollywood and became everyone’s beloved again with a movie in the ’50s. She not only won the audience’s heart but also won another Academy Award. Her life may have been full of controversy, but it must have been fulfilling. Even though there were tragedies, accusations, and controversies throughout her life, she never backed down and did something she didn’t want to do.
Almost all of her choices were unconventional for her time. Even though she was an actress, she didn’t care much about public perception—which is something every actor supposedly cares about. She didn’t. She did what she wanted to do. I am not trying to glorify her choices; whether they were good or bad is up for debate. All I am saying is that living a conventional life and making conventional choices isn’t necessarily fulfilling.
Being good at something is absolutely necessary, but along with that, you also need to be absolutely secure in who you are and what you want. Bergman just triggered that part of my mind that makes you question everything you have ever done. The whys and the whats. Are we truly doing what we want to do? Or are we stuck doing things because we care too damn much about public perception?