Fanny and Alexander (1982)

188 Minutes, 1982
Directed by Ingmar Bergman, in Swedish with English Subtitles, theatrical version
Shown on 16mm film, courtesy of Kinonik

Through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander, we witness the delights and conflicts of the Ekdahl family, a sprawling bourgeois clan in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Sweden. Ingmar Bergman intended Fanny and Alexander as his swan song, and it is the legendary director’s warmest and most autobiographical film, a four-time Academy Award–winning triumph that combines his trademark melancholy and emotional intensity with immense joy and sensuality.

Widely considered one of greatest movies of all time, and sort of the ultimate Christmas movie as well.