Fanny and Alexander ending explained

What happens

The family reunites at a christening, and Emilie returns to the theatre. Alexander lives on knowing the bishop is dead and his ghost still visits him. Helena reads from Strindberg's A Dream Play, with Alexander beside her.

The last image

Alexander sits close to his grandmother Helena as she reads from A Dream Play, the family gathered around them.

What it says

The bishop's death does not end the story, because Alexander must still live with his guilt and the ghost. The film settles on imagination: it cannot abolish the cold rooms, but it can fill them with people, light and stories.