Ah, Bergman. The great purveyor of tedious films (The Times)

Carroll Powell

Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie: have never been able to get past page 1 of either. Even Midnight's Children was done better by Gunter Grass in The Tin Drum. Ken Loach: he made only one good film - Kes. Visconti's Death in Venice is a dreadful bore. Shaw is mostly a self-important windbag. The entire Bloombury group are a bunch of narcissistic, overrated poseurs: V Woolf, especially. E M Forster: his books make good films but are otherwise unreadable. You could also usefully highlight underrated artists: no-one writes better than William Trevor or John McGahern (now, alas, dead). Shameful that neither have won the Booker.

Martin Morgan

In defence of Bergman, Stephen, I would recommend Hour of the Wolf. Genuinely unsettling.

Chris Dent

Singer: Ian Bostridge Conductors and orchestras: almost anyone of world renown whom I've heard. I've heard a lot of concerts at the Edinburgh Festival over the last few years, and most of the really memorable ones have been by the Scottish orchestras or less well know visiting ones (the Bamberg Symphony, the Finnish Radio Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, the Budapest Festival Orchestra...) To my ears, the Philharmonia and the LA Phil have both turned in really dreadful performances in the Usher Hall, and others really ordinary ones.

David J Rickerby

You're a jerk Pollard. It's all very well to decry the followers of an artist because they cling to what that artist represents rather than the art itself, but to transfer that hatred to the art itself (which I very seriously doubt you have ever paid any open minded attention to) is ridiculous. I challenge you to watch Smiles of a Summer Night and not smile, and not recommend it to your friends, and not list it amongst your favorites. You just hate people saying he's good because you feel left out. Tell me, do you get upset by Salvador Dali for the same reason? Do his paintings seem alien and pointless to you? There is a reason so many hollow people cling to Bergman, it's fashionable to. But the reason for that is the people they're looking up to, people like you, who have a voice in the media. Wouldn't you say those people know what they're talking about?

Francis Barry-Walsh

I don't know anything about Ingmar Bergman, but I don't want "unsettling" when I go to the cinema. Life's unsettling enough as it is. Put your feet up and enjoy the classic Ealing comedies or films like Two Way Stretch..."what's the matter, have you never seen a home perm kit before ?". Underrated... Paul Wilson's Someone to watch over me; a truly wonderful book that is just the right length, written well and deserved all the awards going. Guess it didn't make reviewers feel bad about themselves or wasn't unsettling enough. The Soundtrack of our Lives are a Sweish rock'n'roll band who aren't original but have taken the best of the last 30 years of rock music and make a wonderful heartwarming din with a smile on their faces and they are great live. Overrated....the opinions of most book reviewers. I'm not interested in YOU, I'm interested in a review of the book !

Bob Doney

I'm no cineast, pederast or any other sort of ast as far as I know, but I did see Bergman's "Virgin Spring" in my yoof, and thought it was a wonderful film. The last time I saw "Death in Venice" I must admit I did start to get restless in some of the slow bits, but one can never have too much Mahler, can one. And the strolling musicians still do it for me.

Jessica Duchen

You said it, Stephen - you're a philistine! I'm disappointed in you. Do yourself a favour and watch 'Summer with Monika' and 'Wild Strawberries' before you decide he's useless. Could it be that some punters enjoy Bergman because they're sick to death of the dross that pours out of Hollywood? Might cinema be an art form and not just a disposable nappy?

B.

http://pitchpress.blogspot.com/2007/08/murdochisation-or-lapses-at-times.html

Sam Elsby

At first I wondered whether this piece was an ironic provocative joke. The thought process behind your article must go something like this: (1)I'm intelligent and well educated and have lots of strident views on a number of things (for which you have probably won awards for)and I'm confident in those views. (2) I personally don't "get" Bergman and a number of other artists. (3) Therefore (a) there must be nothing to "get" and (b) those to profess to see or understand or FEEL more than I do, must themselves be charlatans. What you don't appreciate is that some peoples' brains are wired up differently to yours. Your comments on Bergman are as valid as mine would be if I dismssed the theory of Relativity. Despite a number of attempts I just can't get to grips with it.