Throughout Ingmar Bergman’s long and prolific career, the legendary auteur crafted a vocabulary of themes and images unmistakably, idiosyncratically his own. With his oeuvre characterized by existential angst, sickness, and gut-wrenching emotional complexities, a Bergman film fest isn’t exactly the best place to take a first date. And, seasonal titles notwithstanding, Bergmaniacs won’t find a whole lot of warmth to thaw the bleak winter of their souls as the “­Ingmar Bergman Remembered” retrospective gets under way at AFI. Summer Interlude and Summer With Monika, the first two films in the series, were made quite early in Bergman’s career: Summer Interlude offers some insight into Bergman’s future thematic obsessions with a tale of love snuffed out in its prime; Summer With Monika, whose unvarnished depiction of sex made it the first (but not the last) Bergman film to be pitched to the American public as porn, no doubt helping to instill pervs of the time with an appreciation for art-house cinema. The series runs to Tuesday, March 4, at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. $9.75. (301) 495-6700; see Showtimes for this week’s films; see afi.com/silver/new/ for a complete schedule.