Gervais shows also how Bergman’s work resonates in a much broader sphere than the personal. His films, which are without equal in the history of cinema in quality, consistency, and relevance, are crucial moments in an ongoing conversation with western culture in its frenetic evolution since World War II. Gervais situates Bergman within the tensions of modernism and the western tradition that have manifested themselves in the twentieth century from existentialism, through deconstruction, and into postmodernism. Bergman’s films are experienced as incarnations, meditations, explorations, and aesthetic objects that reflect, comment on, conflict with, or embrace the movements that produced them.