It has been a bad week for cinema, or at least for those who are interested in it as art as well as entertainment. First there was the death of Laszlo Kovacs, one of the best cinematographers around, and now we have Ingmar Bergman and Michaelangelo Antonioni both dying on the same day.

Is there some sort of plague going around the European arthouse cinema fraternity? Should people like Alain Resnais, Peter Bogdanovich, Eric Rohhmer and Werner Herzog be getting worried? (Michael Winner is probably safe)

Bergman is probably the most important of the recent deaths, but to my shame, I have never actually seen any of Bergman’s films, even though he was extremely prolific. I have seen countless parodies of The Seventh Seal. So many that it sometimes feels like I have seen it. I will admit that when I heard that he died I was a little surprised to find he had still been alive.

Antonioni is another matter. He made far fewer films than Bergman and, despite only having seen a few of them I would say he is my favourite director if only for the sheer beauty of Blow Up, Zabriskie Point and The Passenger. He died aged 94 so had a pretty good innings.

I only bought The Passenger on DVD a few weeks ago and have not yet got around to watching it. I shall do that this week I think.