Not every actor can be a star, nor can every star be a consummate actor. Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman belonged to that rare band of performers who could be both. Bergman dominated European and American cinema in the 1940s and ’50s, commanding a heady stardom and mastery over emotional nuances with equal ease.

One of only three female actors to have received three Academy Awards, Bergman, who courted controversy due to her torrid love affair with Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, had a long career in Hollywood and European movies from 1935 to 1982. Here are five milestone movies from Ingmer Bergman’s filmography to watch this week on the occasion of her 107th birth anniversary in August.

Casablanca (1942)

At the height of World War II in 1941, Rick Blaine (played by Humphrey Bogart) runs a nightclub in Casablanca, a vibrant city in Morocco which is full of spies, German officials and petty crooks. But things become complicated when his old flame, Ilsa (played by Bergman), arrives in town with husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Victor, one of the most wanted French rebel leaders, is being hunted by Germans and only Rick can help him reach the US through proper arrangements.

A still from Casablanca. Twitter

Torn between her loyalty to her husband and passion for Rick, Bergman’s Ilsa has to choose between duty and love. The romantic drama, directed by Michael Curtiz, keeps us in suspense till the end and celebrates friendship, love and the sacrifice of love for a greater cause.

Gaslight (1944)

Set in Victorian London, this psychological thriller, helmed by George Cuckor, stars Bergman as the wife of a manipulative murderer (played by Charles Boyer) who tries to convince her that she is going insane. But Polly (Bergman) avoids being the faint-hearted victim as she feigns nervousness to get to the root of the problem.

A still from Gaslight Twitter

After many turns and twists, the husband is caught by a police inspector and presented, bound to a chair, before his ‘insane’ wife. As a final act of revenge, Polly continues to pretend insane and holds a knife to her husband’s throat, ignoring his pleas for mercy. This performance won Bergman her first Academy Award in 1945.

Notorious (1946)

Ingrid Bergman was one of Alfred Hitchcock’s favourite actresses and they teamed up to do three films. One of them is this romantic espionage thriller that cast Bergman in a Mata Hari-type role.

A still from Notorious. Twitter

Alicia Huberman (played by Bergman) is the guilt-ridden daughter of a Nazi spy. Taking advantage of her guilt, American agent Devlin (Cary Grant) sends her undercover to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to foil a German plot by seducing an old acquaintance (Claude Rains). The film becomes a love triangle between the three — the on-screen chemistry between Bergman and Grant spills onto some of the most sizzling romantic scenes, including a notorious censor-defying kiss that lasts just under three minutes, ever shot in a black-and-white film.

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

One of the most enduring adaptations of the Agatha Christie classic of the same name, this Sidney Lumet-directed film earned Bergman an Academy Award in the best supporting actress category. When a murder occurs on the Orient Express that runs through Europe, celebrated detective Hercule Poirot (played by Albert Finney), a passenger on the same train, starts sniffing.

A still from Murder in the Orient Express. Twitter

In the course of the investigation, however, the murder victim turns out to be an unsavoury character who could be bumped off by a lot of people, and some of them could be present on the train with hidden identities. Bergman’s performance in a brief role as the French-speaking Greta Ohlsson — one of the suspects — is one of the highlights of Murder on the Orient Express. She displays a whole range of expressions that arrive and disappear with subtle movements of her facial muscles and eyes.

Autumn Sonata (1978)

Tinged with mellow light, this Swedish film by Ingmar Bergman, no relation to Ingrid Bergman, explores the limits of human understanding and curtailment of possibilities. Suffering from terminal breast cancer, Ingrid Bergman knew Autumn Sonata was to be her last movie and stamped her authority all over it by reaching new heights of emotional mastery.

A still from Autumn Sonata. Twitter

She played Charlotte, an elegant concert pianist absorbed in her own craft, who has a strained relationship with her daughter Eva (played by Liv Ullmann). The mum comes to visit her daughter, and the two women struggle to keep in place the facade of affection as they start blaming each other for what could have been, and then become openly vengeful. The movie explores the bitter cycle of guilt, dependence and futile rage, bringing out the best of Bergman in this late-career performance.