This is not going to be another piece about how amazing Ingrid Bergman is in Casablanca. Of course, Ingrid Bergman is great in Casablanca. It’s one of the all-time greatest screen performances.

But this is instead about how Ingrid Bergman is the perfect Hitchcock leading lady, the femme fatale that is not quite the icy blonde. Though she starred in but three Alfred Hitchcock films, Notorious and Spellbound (and the lesser known Under Capricorn), Ingrid Bergman seems to perfectly capture the complexity of playing two very different roles.Spellbound, featuring Miklós Rózsa’s “spellbinding” score, is a testament to the power of Ingrid Bergman both on-screen and off. The surreal dream sequence scene which was designed by Salvador Dali was somehow more believable because of the presence of Ingrid Bergman. The chemistry that she shared with co-star Gregory Peck, in which she tries to help “John Brown” find himself all over again was clearly evident in real life as the actors engaged in a private affair. The romantic element continues with Notorious, in which Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman are often embracing, kissing, and nuzzling, (in spite of a restrictive Productive Code). It is entirely believable that a movie could be centred around Grant and Claude Rains competing for the affection of Bergman, (sadly, few of Hitch’s later films featured a woman as the centrepiece of a love triangle). The image of Bergman walking shamefully in the white coat and black hat is timeless, as well as her expressive face, her visage, during the famous poisoned coffee cup scene doubtfully would not have been as effective with any other actress involved.

The magic of Ingrid Bergman is that she is timeless. She has the magical graceful “pop” on-screen, that transcends all of Hitchcock’s other muses and leading ladies, and there are many of them: Eva Marie Saint, Janet Leigh, Joan Fontaine, Shirley MacLaine, Julie Andrews, even the incomparable Grace Kelly. Kim Novak had to play two (sort of) different women in Vertigo in order to compete with Bergman. (Vertigo screens on the closing night of TIFF, September 20th at Roy Thomson Hall accompanied by a live orchestra). The difference with Ingrid Bergman is perhaps the foreign element, that she was Swedish and therefore possessing a sense of “otherness” not present in the British and American actresses usually cast by Hitchcock. But it’s more than that. It is her face and gaze and her way of carrying herself. This woman could move mountains.

Perhaps the best modern comparison to be found to Ingrid Bergman would be found in the meteoric rise of actress Alicia Vikander, who, like Bergman, is from Sweden. There is a sense of “otherness” to Vikander’s roles, certainly exemplified best in Ex Machina, in which Vikander plays a robot, (her ballet training clearly paid off). Like Bergman, Vikander has the sort of outer-worldly quality, that she is of the moment, but fairly removed from it at the same time. But Vikander has a long way to become as iconic as Bergman, and perhaps requires a director such as Hitchcock to become as transformative.

But then again, there may never be another Ingrid Bergman. The centennary of her birth coupled with the TIFF Bell Lightbox presenting two of Hitchcock’s greatest films is the perfect time to fall under her spell.

Notorious screens Sunday at 1:30 pm and Spellbound on Thursday at 6:30 pm as part of Notorious: Celebrating the Ingrid Bergman Centenary.