Adapted from the novel by Isabel Allende, and directed by Bille August, this is really quite an achievement.

NEWYORKER: The House of the Spirits

Despite his lasting association with the director, Mr. von Sydow's one previous Oscar nomination was not for a role in a Bergman picture but rather for another Swedish-language part, that of Lassefar in Bille August's "Pelle the Conqueror" (1987), which won an Academy Award for best foreign film as well as the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

WSJ: Max von Sydow | His Silence May Be Golden | Cultural Conversation by David Mermelstein