People: Jul. 30, 1965

Swedish Director Ingmar Bergman, 47, is almost as pessimistic on paper as he is on film (Winter Light, The Silence). Bedridden for four months with a bronchial infection, Bergman issued a statement accepting The Netherlands' Erasmus Award ($13,800) for his contributions to the arts. It was less a statement than a cheerless obituary on the arts. "Religion and art are kept alive for sentimental reasons," brooded the Lutheran pastor's son; and the modern artistic movement "seems to me like a snake's skin full of ants. The snake is long since dead, eaten, deprived...

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