Overview

• At Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Stellan Skarsgård labeled Ingmar Bergman manipulative, called him “a Nazi during the war,” and claimed he cried when Hitler died.
• Bergman documented his youthful Nazi sympathies in his 1987 memoir but repudiated Hitler and Nazism after learning of the Holocaust’s atrocities.
• Skarsgård contrasted Bergman’s confirmed past with his defense of Lars von Trier, insisting von Trier’s “Nazi” comment at Cannes was a misinterpreted joke.
• In town to present his film Sentimental Value and receive the Crystal Globe award, the actor linked his critique to broader questions of personal accountability in art.
• His comments have reignited discussion over whether the industry applies consistent standards when weighing directors’ moral conduct against their creative legacies.