Siblings Fanny and Alexander Ekdahl had a good lifestyle. Their parents owned a local theater, and the entire family gets together for Christmas. However, their loving father passes away just a few weeks after the Christmas celebrations. 

The children and their mother are devastated by the death, and Alexander claims to see his father’s ghost around the house on occasion. After some time has passed, their mother, Emilie, marries Bishop Edvard Vergerus, whom Alexander had previously met due to a falsehood he told at school. The bishop’s residence is a gloomy environment, and he proves to be a harsh disciplinarian who demands strict adherence to all house regulations. Emilie, Alexander, and Fanny are imprisoned in the bishop’s bleak and depressing home. 

Emilie struggles to seek out a means to reclaim her and her children’s own future. At the same time, Alexander has a conflict with his stepfather and strives to discover how to preserve his own ideals while being obedient to his stepfather.

Fun Facts:

• With a budget of $6 million, the film was the most costly and largest ever filmed in Sweden (with over 1,200 extras).
• The project was developed into a 188-minute cut version for cinematic release after first spanning 312 minutes.
• The script took three months to write. Pre-production, on the other hand, took a year.
• The initial draft of Ingmar Bergman’s script, finalized in 1979, included roughly 1,000 pages written by hand.
• The story is based over a two-year period. Alexander is 10 years old when the incidents of the movie begins.